English translation of the prose
AI-assisted English translation of the prose; quoted poems remain in Japanese. The Japanese original remains authoritative.
Originally published: 19 May 2024.
Japan Romantic Poetry Forum: Spring, Satsuki
18 May 2024
Record and commentary: 河内裕二, Japan Romanticism Society
Using numbers for wordplay is common. Today, 18 May, combines five, ten, and eight to make kotoba, “words,” and the Japan Anniversary Association designates it Word Day. According to the association, the aim is to use words with care, appreciate our ability to communicate through them, and enrich our lives with words. There could hardly be a more fitting day for a poetry gathering.
The gathering took place on 18 May at the Miura Workers’ Civic Center. The source gives the starting time as 01:30. Those attending were 三宅尚道, president of the Miura Tanka Association, 加藤由良子, 嘉山光枝, 清水和子, 羽床員子, Seishu Hamano, president of the Japan Romanticism Society, and 河内裕二. 嶋田弘子 of the Miura Tanka Association also sent poems.
春野菜いく種も並ぶ無人店
新じゃがを買い今日の夕餉に 光枝
The poet is 嘉山光枝. An unattended stall where customers leave payment themselves, without using a vending machine, assumes that no one will cheat. Sadly, the total takings are reportedly lower than they should be in most cases. Yet sellers continue because they want to offer produce cheaply, which buyers also appreciate. Kayama often uses these stalls. Fresh vegetables can be bought inexpensively and enjoyed at the table. She composed this poem while worrying that a few thoughtless people might make that impossible.
スーパーでママの買い物待つパパの
幼はパパの股くぐり遊ぶ 由良子
The poet is 加藤由良子. This describes a family she actually saw in a supermarket. While the mother shops in the crowded store, the father and child wait. The child is still a toddler, and the scene was apparently very sweet and endearing. The katakana words スーパー, ママ, and パパ create a pleasing rhythm and prevent monotony.
なぜなぜと動かぬ体に腹を立て
九十五年の感謝忘れて 和子
A poem by 清水和子. Everyone’s body becomes less mobile with age. The poet’s anger, rather than lamentation, reveals her energy and conveys how vigorous she remains. The second half also shows the composure to observe her angry self objectively: her mind as well as her body remains lively. Only Shimizu could have written this poem.
朝夕べ野栗鼠は来たりわが庭の
夏柑食す五月の御馳走 尚道
A poem by 三宅尚道. Miura has many squirrels, accustomed to people and quite unafraid to enter household gardens. They really did eat the poet’s summer oranges. Since they deliberately come for them, those sour oranges must be a feast to squirrels. They visit frequently, too. Squirrels benefit from the cuteness of their shape and movements: one somehow wants to forgive them even after they eat the fruit. There is no anger in the poem. They even seem to offer a little comfort.
なりふりも構はず急ぐ若者の
睨みつけたる赤信号機 裕二
My own poem. During the morning commute I saw a young person running at full speed along the pavement. The uniform showed that this was a high-school student, perhaps oversleeping and now desperately trying to avoid being late. I understand, having repeatedly made the same futile efforts in high school. When every second matters, a red light makes anger well up. If every subsequent light turns red too, anger eventually becomes despair. I felt sorry for the earnest student, but remembering my former self made me nostalgic and amused.
飛鳥川子等と遊びし日々もとめ
歩めど叫べど天空深し 成秋
A poem by President Seishu Hamano. Asuka Village is a scenic preservation district, so rice fields remain and beautiful landscapes still extend across it. The poet visited partly because his aunt’s grave is there. He played in the Asuka River as a child. Wondering what became of the children who played with him, he walks the place now and calls their names, but of course no one is there. Only memories remain within him. That it is composed in a place retaining so much history deepens its flavor. The closing 天空深し expands it spatially as well as temporally.
年老いた我を見つめる娘居り
娘の老（ふ）くるを見つけた我居て 弘子
The poet is 嶋田弘子. The poem overlaps three generations—her mother, herself, and her daughter. If each has the same experience, “I” and “daughter” mean both the poet and her daughter, and her mother and herself.
Everyone ages, but a daughter watching her mother grow old feels lonely, while a mother seeing her daughter age must have complicated feelings. The story is simple if it concerns only the poet and her daughter. Her exceptional quality lies in introducing the perspective that she too was once a daughter, shifting the time axis to include her own mother.
白樺の新芽の葉先の雨粒が
真珠となりて朝日に耀う 員子
The poet is 羽床員子. The scene appears before one’s eyes. She originally considered ひとつぶ降りて for the fourth phrase, but changed it to 真珠となりて. Without that change, beautiful words would have formed only a description. The replacement avoids mere explanation and makes it an evocative poem.
Tanka often takes nearby things as its subject. At Miura gatherings, vegetables and other foods frequently appear. There are many fields nearby and some members grow vegetables at home, which probably explains it. Food appears in Kayama’s and Miyake’s poems this time too. Thinking about it, I have written remarkably few poems mentioning food—perhaps only two or three. Food is fundamental to human beings and readily creates understanding and sympathy. Using it well might broaden my poetry. That is what I thought.
Original wording, author credits, notes and source materials are preserved there.