English translation of the prose
AI-assisted English translation of the prose; quoted poems remain in Japanese. The Japanese original remains authoritative.
Japan Romanticism Poetry Circle — Spring, April
April 8, 2023
Record and commentary: 河内裕二, Japan Romanticism Academia
April 8 is regarded as the Buddha's birthday, and temples hold the Buddhist celebration called Kanbutsu-e. I too know the story that immediately after birth the Buddha walked seven steps, pointed to heaven with his right hand and to earth with his left, and declared, “Above heaven and below heaven, I alone am honored.” But I do not know what it means to place an image of the newborn Buddha in a flower pavilion and pour sweet tea over it. Why sweet tea? It is not something one ordinarily encounters; is it brewed on occasions other than Kanbutsu-e? April 8 is also the anniversary of the death of the haiku poet Takahama Kyoshi. “Kyoshi's memorial day” and “Chinju memorial day” are spring seasonal words.
The meeting was held at the Iwama residence in Kinugasa, Yokosuka, from 11 a.m. on April 8. Those attending were the seven members 三宅尚道, president of the Miura Tanka Society; 加藤由良子, 嘉山光枝, 嶋田弘子, 羽床員子; Seishu Hamano, president of Japan Romanticism Academia; and 岩間滿美子, together with 河内裕二. 清水和子 of the Miura Tanka Society also sent a poem.
ギシギシと悲鳴を上げる肩と膝
我が老体に油差したし 員子
The author is 羽床員子. Even if a machine creaks, applying grease will make it move smoothly again. Human beings do not work that way. Anyone with painful joints will understand this poem's feelings all too painfully. Recently, however, there are said to be ointments applied directly to shoulders and knees to relieve pain. Using medicine while caring for the body so that the condition does not worsen, one would like to go on enjoying life indefinitely.
寒もどりチュニジア産の鮪売られ
夕暮れスーパー客足まばら 由良子
The author is 加藤由良子. Many people refrain from shopping on cold days, so a supermarket with few customers is nothing unusual. What catches the eye is the tuna from Tunisia. Mediterranean producers of farmed tuna include Spain, Croatia, Italy, Malta, Turkey, and Tunisia, but I feel that until now I had seldom seen Tunisian tuna in Japanese supermarkets. The unexpectedness of its being sold in Misaki, itself famous for tuna, is interesting.
絢爛な枝垂れ桜の足元に
うつむきて咲く真白きすみれ 裕二
My own work. When the cherries bloom, their splendor draws our attention, but many other flowers also blossom in spring. By chance I saw violets flowering quietly beneath a cherry tree. This is a sketch from life of that scene. If the flowers are taken as people, it can also be read as a poem about human society.
今年また結婚記念日亡き夫の
好物つくり仏壇に上ぐ 光枝
The author is 嘉山光枝. In his later years, her husband was repeatedly admitted to hospital and discharged; dietary restrictions prevented him from eating his favorite foods. After his death, she read the notes he had made in a college notebook during his hospital stays. They listed what he wanted to eat after leaving hospital. Wishing to tell him that he may now eat anything he likes, she makes his favorite dishes every year on their wedding anniversary and offers them at the family Buddhist altar.
まさぐりしポケットの鍵の温かき
冷たきドアの前に立ちおり 和子
A poem by 清水和子, absent today. I heard that she lives in a residential home, so perhaps this is a scene of returning to her own room. The contrast between the warm key and the cold door is striking. The key's warmth represents the fact that she is alive, but when she opens the cold door and enters, it separates her from the outside world. The key was warm because it lay in her pocket while she was outside. Once she enters the room and takes it out, it will eventually become cold like the door. Perhaps this poem is a landscape of the author's mind.
メリケンのボール戦の歓声に
古武士の戦場遠のくが如 成秋
The author is President Seishu Hamano. While traveling in Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture, he watched the World Baseball Classic final on television on March 22. Japan splendidly defeated America three to two, regaining the world championship for the first time in three tournaments. Shōhei Ohtani was chosen as the most valuable player. Ohtani, both a pitcher and a hitter, is often compared with Babe Ruth. Ruth came to Japan for the Japan–America baseball series in 1934 and hit thirteen home runs in sixteen games. The gap in strength was then enormous: Japan lost all sixteen games, heavily, and could not compete at all. Only Eiji Sawamura, then seventeen, produced an excellent performance, pitching eight innings and allowing just one run. The Japanese team, so weak then, has now reached the point of defeating America. The old-fashioned word 「メリケン」 carries that history.
The “battlefield of the warriors of old” in the latter part refers to Gassan Toda Castle, which the author visited after watching the game. The Amago clan based there was destroyed by the Mōri. It is a poem of broad scope, bringing battles across time and space together.
一所流るるままに過ごしをり
君に苛立ち君に癒され 弘子
A work by 嶋田弘子, expressing her feelings toward her husband. Living together as a married couple for a long time brings many occasions for annoyance, but the opposite also occurs. For example, when she sees him silently and lovingly gazing at a treasured moth orchid, she can read in him reflections on the joys, sorrows, regrets, and many other things of his life. Such a quietly reflective side of him resets the things that anger her, she says. The succession of small details in everyday life becomes a couple's history. Mathematically it may not be correct, but the image is of points accumulating into a line.
山桜深山に咲ける姿には
威を張るところなきぞ美し 滿美子
The author is 岩間滿美子. She writes of what she thought upon seeing wild cherry trees while traveling. Mention cherry blossom and we first imagine varieties such as the Somei-yoshino familiar in towns, but she prefers wild cherries flowering here and there in the natural mountain landscape. People probably do not go into the mountains expressly to see them, yet every year they quietly bloom and adorn the mountains. Without asserting themselves, they blend in. Perhaps it was this modesty that appealed to her and prompted the poem.
「美し」 may be read either utsukushi or uruwashi. The meaning and impression vary slightly with the reading, but she wishes to leave that choice to the reader.
シクラメン三年目にも花咲きて
給ひし人を時々想ふ 尚道
The author is 三宅尚道. I have heard that cyclamen will not flower unless one manages such things as carrying them through summer successfully. Since this plant has flowered three times, it must have been carefully tended. Judging from the poem, the giver was someone important to the author but died during these three years, while the cyclamen alone has not withered and continues to bloom. Looking at its flowers, he remembers the deceased. Surely it will bloom beautifully next year too, because the feelings with which he remembers that person are beautiful. The flower meanings of “shyness,” “reserve,” and “bashfulness” also suit the poem.
After the presentation and criticism of the tanka, President Hamano introduced a Chinese-style poem of his own. Entitled 「衣笠城旺盛歌」, it was a dignified celebration of Kinugasa Castle, fitting to recite among the castle ruins surrounding the Iwama residence where we had met.
After the meeting, we ate the lunch everyone had brought in the Japanese-style room of the Iwama home. In the relaxed atmosphere, conversation flowed and the pleasant meal satisfied both our feelings and our stomachs. Afterward, Mr. and Mrs. Iwama arranged a tea gathering, and we all enjoyed the tea. The host preparing it was 岩間節雄, whose procedure was splendid. His wife 滿美子, acting as assistant host, was perfectly in step with him, allowing everyone to enjoy the occasion comfortably. We then viewed Hatatate-iwa beside their home, climbed farther up the mountain, and walked around the Kinugasa Castle ruins to conclude our visit. It was a fulfilling day. I would like to express heartfelt gratitude to the Iwamas for their wonderful hospitality.
Original wording, author credits, notes and source materials are preserved there.