Haiku with Yukari

 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