Update Info

12/1/09 Today’s Haiku (December 1,  2009)  posted

11/29/09  Tanka Translation 29 (Hikaru Koike) 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 (December 1, 2009)

冬銀河かくもしづかに子の宿る　　　仙田洋子

fuyu-ginga kakumo shizukani ko no yadoru

winter galaxy

with this calmness

I become pregnant

Yoko Senda

from “Kumo wa Ôkan” (Cloud is Crown), a haiku collection of Yoko Senda, Fujimi Shobo, 1999

Today’s Haiku (November 30, 2009)

寒鴉死後のことなどどうでもよし　前田吐実男　

kan-garasu shigo no kotodado dôdemo yoshi

winter raven

I do not care what happens

after my death

Tomio Maeda

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

 

Tanka Translation 29: Hikaru Koike

29 Hikaru Koike（小池光）

死ぬまへに孔雀を食はむと言ひ出でし大雪の夜の父を怖るる

shinu mae ni kujaku o kuwan to iiideshi ôyuki no yo no chichi o osoruru

my father said he would eat

a peacock before he died

on the night with heavy snow

my fear of him

 

 

 

デパートにわれは迷ひぬ三匹の金魚のための沙（すな）を買はむとして

depâto ni ware wa mayoinu sanbiki no kingyo no tame no suna o kawan to shite

I am lost

at the department store

to purchase pebbles

for my three goldfish

 

 

外科医なるわが弟にしづかなるこどもひとりがありて悲しも

gekai naru waga otôto ni shizukanaru kodomo hitori ga arite kanashimo

my younger brother

who is a surgeon

has one quiet child

and his sadness

from “Gendai Tanka No Kansho 101” (Appreciation of Contemporary Tanka 101) edited by Ken Kodaka, Shinshokan, 1999, Tokyo, Japan

Today’s Haiku (November 29, 2009)

風邪ひいて木星の重さだろうか　　五島高資

kaze hiite mokusei no omosa darô ka

suffering from a cold

is this a weight

of the Jupiter?

Takashi Goto

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

Fay’s Note:  “kaze” (cold) is a winter kigo.