Frank Watson's "One Hundred Leaves: A New Annotated Translation of the Hyakunin Isshu" offers both the Japan specialist and the general lover of poetry a most attractive and lyrical introduction to the famed 13th century anthology that gathered together one poem each from one hundred of Japan's most acclaimed poets of the preceding seven centuries. Per strict Japanese poetic conventions, each poem had 31 syllables of five lines arranged in a sequence of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables. Although the composition of the more modern "haiku" has gained greater popularity, the 31-syllable verse is still considered the finest flowering ever of Japanese poetry. Indeed, the Japanese terms for this poetic form are both "tanka" (meaning a short-form poem in contrast to the longer form earlier adopted from China) and "waka" (meaning "our native poetry").To best appreciate the strengths and shortcomings of Watson's treatment of the "Hyakunin Isshu" a comparison with William Porter's much earlier translation of the same anthology is worthwhile. Take, for example, poem #47. Watson has translated the Monk Egyo's verse as follows:"The vines and weedsEntangle this cottageAloneAnd no one sawThe coming autumn"Porter's translation is:"My little temple stands alone,No other hut is near;No one will pass to stop and praiseIts vine-grown roof, I fear,Now that autumn's here."Both translations assume that the reader will recognize the embedded symbolism of a decrepit, deserted country house in autumn as a trope for loneliness, especially that caused by the departure of a lover or close friend. Watson's literal notes at the foot of the page do make that clearer, while Porter does not provide such context for the English-language reader. On the other hand, the simple ink illustration provided by Porter appropriately shows a lone monk standing outside his country hut, while Watson has employed a more complex Edo period (1600-1868) woodblock print. At the top of the woodblock print is the text of poem #47, but the illustration is less evocative of the poem's mood as it shows a man, likely a samurai in indoor dress, with two geisha or serving girls within a town inn.