Skip to main content

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) 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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!
Post a Comment
Read more
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
Post a Comment
Read more
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' .
Post a Comment
Read more