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 — Summer, June
June 22, 2024
Record and commentary: 河内裕二, Japan Romanticism Academia
New banknotes will be issued next month, about two weeks from now, yet there seems to be no particular excitement. In practice, is not the amount what matters about a banknote, with scarcely any attention paid to its design? Even if we know whose portrait appears on it, perhaps we cannot picture the finer details. Issuing new notes has lately become a regular event roughly every twenty years. They are introduced for practical improvements, such as preventing counterfeiting and making them easy for everyone to use, but there is room for enjoyment unrelated to practicality as well. For many people, the sole point of interest seems to be which “great” Japanese people will be selected. I suspect they enjoy treating the denominations, from highest downward, as a ranking of great figures like sumo's yokozuna, ōzeki, and sekiwake. It is early to ask, but whose portraits will be chosen next time?
The meeting was held at the Miura Workers' Civic Center from 1:30 a.m. on June 22. 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, 清水和子, 羽床員子; and Seishu Hamano, president of Japan Romanticism Academia, together with 河内裕二.
Translator's note: “a.m.” follows 午前 in the source; the time has not been silently changed.
花冷えの庭園めぐりに着物着て
熟女はしかとスニーカー履けり 由良子
The author is 加藤由良子. The combination of kimono and sneakers suggests someone refined in her kimono yet active rather than demure. This free way of dressing outside conventional patterns gives an impression of sophisticated, urban style. The word 「熟女」, a mature woman, matters. With a young person, we might see a mismatched outfit; with an elderly woman, we might imagine difficulty with her feet.
「歩いてる」医師に問われて時々と
愛犬逝きて散歩義務なし 光枝
The author is 嘉山光枝. It is often said that keeping a dog provides exercise because one takes it for walks. Her dog died four years ago, and she stopped walking as a daily routine. The phrase 「愛犬逝きて」 in the latter part conveys grief. Rather than expressing relief that she need no longer walk because the dog is gone, it conveys that walking had meaning and value because she did it with her beloved dog.
階段をあえて選んでゆっくりと
ひとりふたりと追い越されつつ 弘子
The author is 嶋田弘子. We can see the scene of her climbing the stairs. Against her effort to use them so her legs do not weaken, the light steps of people who climb them without a second thought feel somewhat cruel. Yet the words 「あえて選んで」 in the second phrase quietly declare her resolve: whatever others may do, she will follow her own path. Only someone who faces herself each day could have written this poem.
なるようにしかならないと覚悟決め
七十八歳明るく生きる 員子
The author is 羽床員子. Many felt that, considering Japan's present life expectancy, seventy-eight was too early to brace oneself in this way. The emphasis, however, lies in the final phrase about living cheerfully. Perhaps she felt that to do so required the resolve expressed in the opening. This is not resignation but a positive determination to face whatever comes directly. The poem tells herself that she will live cheerfully, whatever may happen.
百年の悲恋を抱えし坂田山
青葉に語らめ穢れなき愛 成秋
A work by President Seishu Hamano. Sakata-yama is a hill in Ōiso where a young couple died together in 1932. A film, Tengoku ni Musubu Koi, was made about the incident, and many couples who saw it attempted double suicide there. Few people today know of this. The poem carries the weight of the author's feeling that today's young people, too, should be told of those young people who died in pursuit of what he regards as pure love. In 1932, when such deaths were frequent, Saitō Mokichi composed the following poem.
心中といふ甘たるき語を発音するさへいまいましくなりてわれ老いんとす 茂吉
泰山木咲くのを待てり友は逝き
今は何処に白い花影 和子
The author is 清水和子. A southern magnolia can be seen from the dining room, and its white flowers bloom in May and June. A friend looked forward to them every year, and “The magnolia is in bloom” became a morning greeting between them. This had continued for more than ten years, but this year the friend died before it flowered. Whenever the author remembers her, it is always together with the white magnolia blossoms. The latter part has a somewhat dreamlike quality.
緑道に整備と掲げ一日にて
消えし街路樹鳥のこゑなし 裕二
My own work. The greenway in front of my home was transformed in a single day. It had been a lush path deserving of its name, lined with large street trees and thick shrubs. One day I returned from work to an unfamiliar scene with not a single tree left. Pruning had occurred from time to time, but fences had never been erected. So, on the previous day, when a fence appeared along a long stretch, I went to read the explanatory sign. It said only that the work was to improve the greenway. I never imagined that they would cut down and remove all the trees. Imagining the unfeeling felling of trees that had grown there over decades filled me with anger and sadness. The next day I realized that, with the trees gone, the birdsong had disappeared too. Feeling still sadder, I composed this poem.
感染症いつでも誰でもかかりをり
真夏日続く六月の朝 尚道
The author is 三宅尚道. Recently COVID infections seem to have risen a little again. In heat severe enough to require precautions against heatstroke, catching COVID and developing a high fever places still more strain on the body. He actually experienced this a year ago, he said. Though only June, midsummer temperatures continued, and then he caught COVID as well. The interest of the poem lies in raising his own misfortune to a more general level through the expression 「いつでも誰でもかかりをり」.
The principal rule of tanka is the thirty-one-sound pattern of five, seven, five, seven, seven. There are few other fixed requirements, leaving considerable freedom in composition. Even the count is not absolute: too few or too many sounds are permissible. One may also use quotation marks and punctuation. Quotation marks allow conversation to enter, and a full stop may have a similar effect. Roman letters may appear too. In 嘉山's poem this time, quotation marks in the opening phrase organize the whole effectively. I have never used quotation marks or punctuation myself. I would not be unwilling to use them if they were effective and widened the range of expression, but I would like to try to express myself in the orthodox form as far as possible.
Original wording, author credits, notes and source materials are preserved there.