Tanka by Minoru KONO in Japan (1)
2010/12/25
Minoru KONO （幸野稔）, Professor Emeritus, Akita University, is a tanka poet.
His tanka was exhibited at the AIU Festival 2010 held on October 10-11 at Akita International University（国際教養大学）.
Emeritus Professor KONO says in his brief bio as follows:
Biodata about KONO Minoru
In my high school and university days, I secretly wrote tanka poems and sent some works to be chosen by Akita Sakigake Newspaper Tanka Column once in a while. After graduating from university in 1961, I became an English teacher. Then I was encouraged to join Akita Rinkan led by FUJIWARA Eizo. Under his guidance I tried to compose tanka regularly, but gave up before long.
My long slumber as a tanka poet was broken off in summer 1985, when I visited England. Wordsworth’s world featured by undulating green hills and the Lake District revived poems in my mind. Thus I contributed my tanka works every month to Kanryu led by ICHINOSEKI Yoshimi and to Seiran led by SHIMADA Shuji. Thanks to their guidance, I learned to appreciate and compose tanka poems as literature. After their deaths, however, I found it difficult to maintain the quantity of my tanka composition, and left Kanryu and Seiran after all.
Still, composing tanka poems, though unproductively, is one of my favourite pastimes, especially after my retirement from public office in 2004. Now I am a member of Asahikawa Tanka Study Group, a community-based mini-group. Gathering once a month, we enjoy discussing each other’s works and study about how to improve tanka expressions. Why don’t you join us?
E-mail: mkono@zpost.plala.or.jp
幸野 稔 歌歴
高校生から大学生の頃、秘かに短歌をひねり、秋田さきがけ歌壇に投稿して、時折載せていただいておりました。1961年に大学を卒業後、英語教師となりましたが、『秋田林間』の主宰の藤原永三氏に勧められて同結社に入会しました。氏のご指導のもとで定期的に短歌を作るよう努めましたが、間もなく壁に突き当たり、実作から遠ざかってしまいました。
転機は1985年夏の英国旅行の折に訪れました。なだらかな緑の丘や湖水地方といったワーズワースの世界は、長く休眠していた私の歌心を呼び覚ましてくれたのです。それから、一関吉美氏主宰の『寒流』と島田修二氏主宰の『青藍』に毎月欠かさずに詠草を送るようにしました。両氏のご指導により、文学としての短歌の鑑賞と実作を学ぶことができました。しかしながら、両氏の死後、私の出詠数を維持するのが困難となり、結局両結社から離れることになりました。
とは言え、寡作ながら短歌創作は私の趣味の一つであり、特に2004年の定年退職後は最大の心の慰めとなっております。現在は旭川短歌研究会の会員として、こじんまりとした毎月の歌会を楽しみとしております。私達はより良い短歌表現を目指して合評を重ねてきました。皆さんの入会をお待ちしております。
Emeritus Professor KONO presented his tanka recitation to the audiences at the AIU festival.
Here I present his tanka to you.
TankaVerse Works 拙詠
KONO, Minoru 幸野 稔
(1988年 NHK学園短歌東北大会選者特選）
The holidays over,
My dear son hurried back 疾風のごとく帰省子は去りゆきて
On the wings of the wind, 花びらはつかに残る葉桜
Leaving some tiny petals
In the leafy cherry tree.
Farewell Poems for 2007 AFS 2007年度AFS秋田支部
Akita Chapter Recipient Students 受入生の帰国に際して詠める
(For Tom from Australia) （オーストラリア年間生トムに）
“I love Canberra,
My beautiful hometown,” キャンベラは美しい街と語りたる
Says Tom smiling, 愛郷少年トムの笑顔よ
His student days over
Here in snowy Akita.
(For Mengying from China) （中国年間生モンインに）
It is now so nice
To see you smiling, Mengying, 懐郷の愁いを見せしモンインは
A high school girl 今ぞ笑顔の少女となれる
Who used to look homesick
On arriving here in Akita.
(For Yejee from the Republic of Korea) （韓国年間生イェジに）
Write a novel, Yejee,
Based on your student days この町に学びし日日を小説に書き
Here in Akita 給えそを読むまで生きたし
I would like to live
Until I read it.
(For Julius from USA) （アメリカ合衆国セメスター生ジュリアスに）
Have a dream, Julius,
Remembering Reverend King, 差別無き国を目指ししキング師を
Who aimed at making 偲びて君も夢を持つべし
Your country a land
Without discrimination.
Farewell Poems for 2009 AFS 2009年度AFS秋田支部
Akita Chapter Recipient Students 受入生の帰国に際して詠める
Here is a photo of Luca, Professor Kono, and Julia at the AIU Festival 2009.
(For Luca from Switzerland) （スイス年間生ルカに）
His one-year study
In Akita bearing fruit, 一年(ひととせ)の学び実りて日本語を
Luca, a Swiss boy, かくも巧みに操れるルカ
Has now acquired Japanese
With such a wonderful skill.
(For Daniela from Argentina) （アルゼンチン年間生ダニエラに）
Smiling all over,
Danie is pounding steamed rice 満面の笑みもて杵(きね)を振り上ぐる
With a mallet, ダニーと相取りせるホストパパ
Her host daddy beside
Kneading the pounded rice for her.
(For Julia from USA) （アメリカ合衆国セメスター生ジュリアに）
One of the schoolgirls
Of the holy light, Julia 小雪舞う駅前広場下校せる
Is walking back home 光の子らの一人なるジュリア
Through the station plaza,
A light snow dancing about.
Composed in November, 2010 近詠（2010年11月）
Calling me “Grandpa,”
In a rising tone, 「ジッタン」と語尾上げわれを呼びながら
A one-year-old boy 居間駆け回る一歳の児は
Is running around
In the living room.
The next posting ‘International Haiku New Year’s Festival 2011 (Part 1)’ appears on January 1, 2011.
I wish you a Happy New Year!
― Hidenori Hiruta
Tanka by Wahyu W. Basjir in Indonesia (1)
2010/11/13
On September 15, Wahyu W. Basjir sent me an e-mail with his brief bio, a photo of his family, and haiku included.
On October 2, I posted his haiku with his brief bio and a photo of his family in the website.
On October 20, I received another mail, in which Wahyu contributed his tanka with a photo of his family to our website.
Dear Hiruta-san,
I’ve been writing english tanka for quite some time. Below, I am sending you some of them. I would be very glad if you could consider these tanka for your Akita Haiku Network.
Best wishes,
Wahyu
***
it takes long
to get acquainted
my reflection and me
in my late dad’s
old sarong
映像と我の知覚に時かかる亡き父の着しサロン着るなり
***
washing my feet
after this long walk
in shallow water
the memory of you
runs downstream
長歩き浅瀬の中で足洗う君の思い出下流に流る
***
a day you promised
to not leave me forever
feels like yesterday
in my cabinet, a box full
of our memorabilia
別れない約束の日は昨日かな我が戸棚には思い出の箱
***
reading your emails
my mind wanders
around milky way
for a place
where we didn’t meet
メール読みさまよい歩く我が心銀河のまわり会わなかった場
***
how can i not be blue
my mom called and cried
for missing me
and so did my son
for his missing toy
我不在母泣き叫ぶ我は憂えずおもちゃをなくす息子も同じ
***
from the battlefield
a relative has died
desert storm
twists the date-palm
unharvested
戦場で親類が死ぬ砂嵐ナツメヤシねじる収穫なし
***
the rain
penetrates my soul
drop by drop
your love fills up
the lake
その雨は我が心にぞしみ通るあなたの愛が湖満たす
***
longing for the light
matoa* leaves
harvest the dews
a poet
dreams in monochrome
*Pometia pinnata
光をと思い焦がれるマトアの葉露を取り込み詩人夢見る
***
morning walk
along the path
i wonder
where i might be
after light years
朝散歩小径に沿って我思う光年後にはどこにいるかと
***
where are you
i’m consumed
with solitude as i watch
the moon in still water
swimming naked
君はどこ孤独にやつれ我は見る水中泳ぐ裸の月を
***
on still water
a water spider moves
gently, the ripples fade
before reaching the shore
where we used to be
水静か水蜘蛛動き波消える岸に着く前昔の場所に
I sincerely hope that you will appreciate tanka by Wahyu W. Basjir.
The next posting ‘Haiku by William Sorlien in USA’ appears on November 20.
― Hidenori Hiruta
Tanka by Chen-ou Liu in Canada (1)
2010/10/30
On September I received an e-mail from Chen-ou Liu.
And I would like to submit the following poems for your consideration for publication on the Akita International HST Network. I shall be pleased if you translate some that appeal you much.
Warm Regards
Chen-ou Liu
Chen-ou Liu was born in Taiwan and emigrated to Canada in 2002. He lives in Ajax, a suburb of Toronto, where he has been struggling with a life in transition and translation.
(accessed at http://simplyhaiku.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/interview-with-chen/).
And read more of his poetry at his website,
Poetry in the Moment (http://chenouliu.blogspot.com/).
All the best,
Chen-ou Li
Next I present some of his tanka with my Japanese translations.
Tanka:
stand along the road
in a row
seeing me off
to another world
裸の木列なし道に沿い立って我の他界を見送るごとし
of a thousand poems
dangle on
the tip of a crescent moon
over my attic
一千の詩の糸下がる三日月の先見えるなり屋根裏の上
between
that first gulp of air
and last breath –
a transitional flow
of yin and yang
初息から最後の呼吸一生は陰と陽とが替わりて流る
a blue bird
darts into blossoms and out
unsettled
I wander and yearn
my hometown an ocean away
青い鳥花へ飛びこみ落ち着かず我さすらいて故郷慕う
standing alone
by the main entrance
of the airport
I ponder the verb wait
transitive or intransitive
空港の入り口に立ち沈思する動詞の待つは他または自かと
my world
is coiled on rolls of film
and projected nightly
on the screen of my mind –
when is the reel world not real?
我が世界心のフィルム写し撮り夜ごとに映り実在すなり
Baker’s Bliss
sets out its morning bread
on the racks
I am drunk
on the spring breeze
朝パンを棚に並べるパン屋さん我酔いどれて春風を受く
yesterday
will be the same
for tomorrow never changes –
the kite of my days
cut from the string of Life
昨日また明日も変わらず同じかな我が世の凧は糸切られけり
if I put
a gun in my mouth
and splatter
my brain on cherry blossoms…
a timeless jisei?
口に銃桜の上の頭散る永遠の自制や起こすまじなり
my days
aren’t graphed in ideograms
but lined up
like the English alphabet –
Chinese in the promised land
我が日々は表意文字では示されぬ英文字のごと中国語なら
gazing
in the mirror
a stranger
stares back at me
a man with no eyes
鏡見る見知らぬ人が見返して我を見つめる目のない男
living alone
in a world of one color
loneliness
devours each hour
then neglects the rest
一色の世界にひとり住んでいる孤独時飲み他を無視すなり
I close
the valves of my heart
to the world of red dust
solitude and I
are now of the same race
塵の世に心臓弁を我閉じる孤独と我は今同種なり
The next posting ‘Haiku by Kaa. Na. Kalyanasundaram in India (1) ’ appears on November 6.
― Hidenori Hiruta
Tanka by Kala Ramesh in India
2010/08/07
On May 20, 2010, Kala Ramesh sent me an e-mail as follows:
Dear Hidenori Hiruta san,
Sending my work for your site.
Please take time over your translation, because I’ve sent tanka and Haibun too, which might need more time for proper translation, I feel, since they are longer.
I’m given you many poems, please choose whatever you like from each genre.
Thanking you,
warmly,
_kala
According to her self-introduction, Kala Ramesh has long had a fascination for Indian classical music and is an exponent of both Carnatic and Hindustani Classical Music styles. She was fortunate to undergo vigorous training from leading musicians. She has worked extensively on Pandit Kumar Gandharva’s compositions and Nirguni bhajans along with the paramparic bandishes of the Gwalior Gharana, under the guidance of Vidushi Smt Shubhada Chirmulay, Pune.
Kala has made a concerted effort to understand the ‘spirit’ behind Kumarji’s gayaki – incorporating the vigour and the vitality, which is so inherent in his style of singing and she has performed in major cities in India.
Coming from an extremely artistic and culturally rich South Indian Tamil family, Kala believes, as her father is fond of saying, “the soil needs to be fertile for the plant to loom”. She also feels she owes this poetic streak in her to her mother. Kala is keen to see children in India take to haiku and its genres.
Kala is the deputy editor-in-chief of The World Haiku Review; is a member of the editorial team of Modern English Tanka Press’s new anthology, Take Five: The Best Contemporary Tanka 2008/2009/2010, is on the panel of the literary e-journal Muse India, for the areas of haiku and short verse [http://www.museindia.com/feature17.asp]; and was the in-house editor for Katha, New Delhi for the book Seeking the Beloved: The Poetry of Shah Abdul Latif (2005). Since April 2009, she has acted as Katha’s Poetry Editor and, in this capacity, edited an e-book of haiku, senryu, haibun, tanka, and haiga encompassing the work of 35 Indian haiku poets–the first such book to come from an Indian publishing house!
Currently, she is also the lead poet (sabaki) of a Kasen renku with six other international renkujin: experimenting, discovering, and incorporating the traditional renku with the Rasa Theory of India (which consists of nine rasas or emotions, namely erotic, comic, sorrow, anger, valour, fear, disgust, wonder and tranquillity, traditionally known as the nava rasas). Kala heads the World Haiku Club in India. As director, she organised the World Haiku Club Meeting at Pune in December 2006. The four-day 9th World Haiku Festival she organized at Bangalore in February 2008 was sponsored jointly by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji and Sri Ratan Tata Trust
Here I present some tanka by Kala Ramesh with my Japanese interpretations.
I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading her tanka and appreciate them.
Tanka
Love
is an oasis
you say…
or does our thirst
play tricks on us?
愛
オアシスであると
あなたは言う．．．
あるいは、私たちの渇きが
私たちにいたずらしているのだろうか？
surfing through
channels of thought
I tune into
the lingering memory
of mother’s favourite saris
思いを巡らしながら
様々な思考回路を通って
私は同調する
なかなか消えない思い出の中に
母さんの大好きなサリーの思い出に
she lights
the bronze lamp
each morning
a new day for mother to love
her Goddess, all over again
彼女は火を灯す
青銅のランプに
毎朝
新しい日が始まる
母が愛する女神のための日、もう一度最初から
a hundred lies
just to cover
the first
his conscience
allowed him to say
百ものうそ
まさに最初のうそを隠すために
彼の良心が
彼に言わせたのだ
my family wept
over our dog’s death
I weep
for those days I grudged him
his early morning walk
私の家族は泣いた
私たちの犬の死に
私は泣く
あの日々のために
私が早朝の散歩にしぶしぶ連れて行った日々のために
draped in fragrance
the jasmine withers . . .
my breath
through the flute, cherishes
each note as it fades
芳香の中に優美に垂れ
ジャスミンは色あせる．．．
私の息は
フルートを通して、心に抱く
萎んでゆく時の調べのそれぞれを
autumn fields
a fork in the road
widening
our shadows
even farther
秋の畑
路上のくま手
広げていく
私たちの影を
さらに遠くへ
worn out sandals
the cobbler finds them
difficult to mend
and I find them hard
to discard
すり切れたサンダル
靴直しが修理は難しいと見る
だけど私は手放し難いと思う
rain in the city
unrelenting
through the long night
my life hangs
on your laboured breath
都会の雨
容赦なく
長い夜を通して降り続ける
私の命はすがりついている
あなたの骨折って働いている息に
laughing
over old stories . . .
suddenly
I feel that mother
is young again
笑っている
古い話に．．．
突然
私は感じる
母がまた若くなっていることを
for eons, waves
have danced the pebbles
to perfection . . . still
it’s the sand between my fingers
that leaves me spellbound
イーオンのために、波が
小石を飛びはねさせてきた
完成へと．．．さらに
私の指の間の砂である
私をうっとりさせるのは
it is possible
I tell myself
to feel
the depth of the sky
from within me . . .
可能です
自分に言うのは
感じるように
天の深さを
私の心の内から．．．
CREDITS:
love (Nov 2009 Simply Haiku)
surfing through(Nov 2009 Simply Haiku)
she lights (Nov 2009 Simply Haiku)
a hundred lies (Fall issue of Ribbons, 2009)
my family wept (Nov 2009 Simply Haiku)
draped in fragrance (Eucalypt May 07)
autumn fields (Magnapoets July 09)
worn out sandals (Loch Raven Review Fall 05)
rain in the city (Streetlights: Poetry of Urban Life in MET. summer 09)
laughing (Notes From the Gean – Sep 09)
for eons, waves(Simply Haiku – Spring 07)
it is possible (Tanka Online Jan 2010)
The next posting ‘Haiku by Michael Dylan Welch (2)’ appears on August 14
.
― Hidenori Hiruta
Tsutomu Nimure, a tanka poet, in Akita, Japan, kindly contributed his tanka in celebration of the 1st anniversary of the opening of the Akita International Haiku Network.
He introduces himself as follows:
Tsutomu Nimure’s way of TANKA
As a college student, I had a Japanese class, which dealt Manyoushu. The teacher of the class advised us to write a Tanka poem. So at some twenty years of age I tried to make a Tanka and got some advice by the teacher. After that time I neglected to make Tanka poems. At age of 65 I retired, so I have begun to pay attention to Tanka for my hobby. Since that day it has been passed some ten years. In order to know my level I have continued to contribute my Tankas to some newspapers.. I was awarded in 2008 annual prize in Tanka by Asahi shinbun Akita branch and Mainichi shinbun Akita branch. (As of Oct. 20, 2009)
From now on, Tsutomu Nimure shows his tanka poems in Japanese as well as in English to us.
No.2(2010.03.30)
半月の西に傾く夜の道サッカーゲームの声援聞こゆ
On the way at night
when a half moon was sinking
in the west slowly
the exciting cheering voice
of a soccer game was heard.
チャペルには新婚夫婦祝したるコーラス隊の聖歌の響く
In a calm chapel
hymns, sung by an angel choir,
were still echoing,
and blessing new bride and groom
who married fore the altar.
仲良しのよき手本たる二羽の蝶ふわりふわりと花を回れり
A pair of but’flies
which is a good example
of intimate friends,
flew around a wild flower
lightly, softly, joyfully
睦まじく手をつなぎ合い助けあう男鹿半島と寒風山は
Holding their hands hard,
the Oga Peninsula
and Mt.Kanpuzan
are quite harmoniously
helping each other firmly.
面接を受ける学生個性あり応答速度瞬時か熟慮
Each of the students,
who takes an interview,
shows his character
in answering a question
instantly or leisurely.
新しき教科書開き予習する新学期前気持あらたに
A book opened,
new lessons are prepared
for by the teacher,
who has refreshing feelings
before a new semester.
雨により満開の花散りたりて桜じゅうたん歩道を占める
Owing to rainfall,
blossoms at their best scattered
and it was noticed
a cherry-blossom carpet
occupied a wet sidewalk.
Last of all, let me decorate our on line festival with the collection of photo flowers presented by Patricia Lidia, a haiku poet, in Romania.
The next posting ‘Haiku by Gabi Greve for Int’l Haiku Spring Festival 2010’ appears tomorrow on May 23, the last day of our Haiku Festival.
― Hidenori Hiruta
Haiga by Masuda Aika ( Part 5 )
2010/03/20
Miss Masuda Aika (桝田愛佳）began painting haiga in her elementary school days.
In summer, 2008, her mother, Ms. Masuda Junko (桝田純子), and David Ferron, an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) in Akita City, Akita, Japan, took up haiga by Masuda Aika as their haiga project.
We posted their haiga project on the website, dividing it into three stages in November, 2009.
We are very pleased that you appreciated haiga by an elementary schoolgirl in Akita.
Miss Masuda Aika（桝田愛佳）, is now a freshman at Seirei Senior High School in Akita, and contributed her haiga to our website again recently.
Her mother, Ms. Masuda Junko (桝田純子) wrote haiku and translated them into English.
We hope that you will enjoy their haiga and haiku on our website again.
In her second year : Sotoasahikawa Junior High School
No snow
even in February
so bright afternoon
by Junko
Green leaves shining ―
she who falls in love
shining too
by Junko
First hit by my brother ―
even flowers swinging
with joy
by Junko
From a heaven room
watching fireflies glow
with my best friend
by Junko
Rokugo’s springwater
shining
reflecting the sky
by Junko
In Rokugo, town of water, we can see clouds reflected in the pond of the garden.
Jack-o-lantern
smiling at me
from outside the window
by Aika
Red dragonflies
basking in the sunshine
friendly with shades
by Junko
Happy New Year
by Aika
Favorite pastime
sewing one by one
waiting for spring
by Aika
My dream comes true ―
cherry blossoms blooming
in my mind
by Junko
Ms. Doi Ikuko （土井育子）, the best friend of Aika’s mother’s, presented her Tanka （短歌） to Aika.
Oh, my sweet baby!
Grow up healthy
with the Japanese spirit;
Sakura,
sakura,
it’s the century flower.
すこやかに 大和魂 育たんや さくら さくらは 世紀の花よ
Sukoyaka ni yamato damashii sodatan ya sakura sakura wa seiki no hana yo
The names of all her family members appear in her tanka, says Ikuko.
Her husband’ s name is 世紀（Seiki） (Century), her son’s name is 健太郎（Kentaro） (Healthy boy), her daughter’s name is さくら （Sakura） (Cherry flower), and her name, 育子（Ikuko）, means ‘Sodatsu ‘( Grow up).
Around there
I felt
as if I heard your voice;
turning around
I found the blue ocean only
By Junko
In her third year : Sotoasahikawa Junior High School
Spring in full swing
so am I
in the 9th grade at last
by Aika
Soap bubbles
rise in the sky of Tokyo ―
school trip
by Aika
Under the sky
the first rose has opened
summer begins
by Aika
First swimming
with the rainbow seen
beyond the pool shower
by Aika
Mt. Chokai’s flowers
fascinating
late summer
by Junko
The last haiga was presented to Yousei Hime, whose blog is SHITEKI NA USAGI ( http://tasmith1122.wordpress.com/).
In the main hall
praying for good luck
winter light outside
by Junko
The next posting, Haiku by Lars Palm in Sweden, appears on March 27.
― Hidenori Hiruta
