Haiku with Yukari

Let me share the following tanka by Kaoru Natsukaze, which was contributed to a local newspaper in November 2024. とおおおおおおおおおおおおおおおおおおおおおおおおくの戦争 ／夏風かをる wars in farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr away (translated by me)  I think it satirically describes our apathetic attitudes towards the wars in "far away". Simple and powerful tanka. Some people pointed out that it must be based on Jiro Kato's tanka, which was written in 1991: にぎやかに釜飯の鶏ゑゑゑゑゑゑゑゑゑひどい戦争だった ／加藤治郎 chicken in a pot with rice in a lively manner eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it was a terrible war (translated by me) 

Recently, Fay Aoyagi kindly translated one of my haiku and posted it on her blog . 春の夜の線路は北へ行く鎖骨／西生ゆかり the rail in a spring night is a collarbone going to north Compared to the original one, which has a rather dark atmosphere due to the strong impression of the kanji characters for “chain” (鎖) and “bone” (骨),  the English translation has a lighter sound and seems to be the beginning of a pleasant journey. In the same  blog , I also found Sayumi Kamakura's haiku, which describes a pale and solemn scene. 鶴ねむり眠れぬ天は雪を降らす／鎌倉佐弓 cranes sleep the insomniac sky sheds snow

 I have taken some of Koji Ooka's haiku from here and translated them. しばのとを たたきつづけて われとなる keep knocking on the brushwood door until I become myself いちじくの 葉に照らさるる 男かな a man― in the light of a fig leaf Although sometimes it is rigid and difficult, I like the mythic and religious mood in his haiku. Hope you like it!

Looking at my hand last night, it occurred to me that the “hand” in this famous tanka by Takuboku Ishikawa might be the back of the hand, not the palm. はたらけど はたらけど猶（なほ）わが生活（くらし）楽にならざり ぢっと手を見る I work, I work, but my life is not getting any easier I look at my hand (translated by me) My palm has expression and interacts with me. On the other hand, the back of my hand is somewhat distant, like someone else's back. I feel this way because there is a division between 'I who work' and 'I who look at my hand'. The first half of this tanka is the story of 'I as a worker in society,' but in the second half, the story suddenly becomes about 'just me.' I think 'just me' looks like Lange's 'Mozart at the Piano' .

Most people write haiku in Japanese in one line. But a few people write them in two or more lines. For example, here is a haiku by Koji Ooka, an avant-garde haiku writer in the 60s. ともしびや おびが驚く おびのはば torch― a kimono belt surprises at its own width (translated by me) The division of the lines emphasizes the rhythm. It is also interesting that the unusual appearance of the haiku surprises us, just as the width of the kimono surprises the kimono!

Chamber Music in the cold forest we untie our shoulder blades through the cold forest we walk to a chamber of acting stepping on dead leaves making sounds of triangle a little finger puts silver on your eyelids on a dancer's navel a shining winter star on the stage of January sweat and throwing ribbon the flower is sasanqua your gaze floods from your eyes the sasanqua blossoms fall only you hold you attempted cough in the back of my throat the last train a frozen sky the smell of smoke escaping my mouth