Update Info

11/10/09 Today’s Haiku (November 10,  2009)  posted

10/24/09  Tanka Translation 27 (Takako Hanayama) posted

10/27/09 Fay’s Haiku (from “Acorn”)  posted

Today’s Haiku

Haijin Kyokai (Haiku Poets Association) in Japan has a little bit more than 15,000 members. 

Haiku Nenkan (Haiku Almanac) 2004 Issue (the latest almanac I have with me) lists 844 haiku groups in Japan.

Ten’I, one of the haiku groups I belong to, led by Dr. Akito Arima has about 1400 members.  (I joined Ten’I (Providence) in 2000, then joined Aki (Autumn), started by Yatsuka Ishihara (deceased), now led by Masami Sanuka, in 2008.)

Every month, I send at least 40 to 50 haiku to various monthly kukai held in Japan.

This page is a tiny portal to the haiku world…

Please click “Haiku Translation” in ”categories” section  to see “Today’s Haiku,” my humble attempt to introduce a contemporary haiku written in Japanese.

Fay Aoyagi, January, 2009, San Francisco

 

Tanka Translation

At a January meeting of Haiku Poets of Northern California (“HPNC”) , I listened to an interesting presentation about tanka.  A presentator has deep knowledge about classic tanka (such as Kokinshu) and I was impressed.   At the same time, I was a little bit disappointed  because he did not touch upon contemporary tanka written by  Japanese poets.  

I am a haiku poet and not an expert of tanka.   But I was born and grew up in Japan and can read the language.  I thought if I would translate some tanka from “Gendai Tanka no Kansho 101”  (Apreciation of Modern Tanka 101), an excellent anthology written and edited by Ken Kodaka, it might help the people who write tanka in English.   Translation is rough and I chose the one I would translate without difficulty.                                                                              

Fay Aoyagi

January, 2009, San Francisco

 

 

Please click “Tanka Translation” in the categories section to see my tanka translation.

Today’s Haiku (November 10, 2009)

鶏頭を怒らせたくてさわってみる　　　藤岡筑邨

keitô o okorasetakute sawatte miru

desiring to make

a cockscomb angry

I touch it

Chikuson Fujioka

 

from “Haiku Shiki” (“Haiku Four Seasons,” a monthly haiku magazine) , September  2009 Issue, Tokyo Shiki Shuppan, Tokyo

Today’s Haiku (November 9, 2009)

鰯雲子は消しゴムで母を消す　　平井照敏

iwashigumo ko wa keshigomu de haha o kesu

mackerel sky

a child erases his mother

with an eraser

Shobin Hirai

from “Gendai Haiku No Kanshõ 101” (Modern Haiku Appreciation 101) edited by Kai Hasegawa, Shinshokan, Tokyo 2001

Today’s Haiku (November 8, 2009)

長薯に長寿の髯の如きもの　　辻田克己

nagaimo ni chôju no hige no gotoki mono

on a Chinese yam

a thing looks like a whisker

of longevity

Katsumi Tsujita

 

from “Gendai Haiku No Kanshõ 101” (Modern Haiku Appreciation 101) edited by Kai Hasegawa, Shinshokan, Tokyo 2001

 

Fay’s Note:  “nagaimo” (“Chinese yam” or “dioscorea batatas”)  is an autumn kigo.

Today’s Haiku (November 7, 2009)

訃の知らせ運ぶ色なき風であり　　　小川　洋

fu no shirase hakobu ironaki kaze deari

news of his death

is carried by

the wind without colors

Hiroshi Ogawa

 

from “Ten’I” (“Providence”), a haiku group led by Dr. Akito Arima, Membership Magazine,  February 2009 Issue

 

Fay’s Note:  “ironaki kaze” (a wind without colors) is an autumn kigo.