Uploaded 4000th today!!
Thank you for visiting and sharing.
Fay Aoyagi
February 16, 2020
San Francisco, CA
Posted in Uncategorized
In January 2009, I started translating tanka from “Gendai Tanka no Kansho 101” (Apreciation of Modern Tanka 101), an anthology written and edited by Ken Kodaka. It took longer than I thought, but I am happy to announce that the mission was completed at last!
Since I do not write tanka and some poets use classic Japanese, I found tanka translation more difficult than haiku translation. From now on (at least for a while), this blog will concentrate on haiku.
I appreciate your support and encouragement in the past 3 years!
Fay Aoyagi
November 30, 2011, San Francisco
紙で創る世界海月の王も紙 田島健一
kami de tsukuru sekai kurage no ô mo kami
the world made of paper
King Jellyfish
is paper, too
Kenichi Tajima
from “Tadanaranu Po” (Unusual ‘Po’), haiku collection of Kenichi Tajima, Furansu-do, Tokyo 2017
森の方から短夜が来るんだよ 如月真菜
mori no hô kara mijikayo ga kurundayo
from a direction
of the wood
a short night will come
Mana Kisaragi
from “Haiku Dai-Saijiki” (“Comprehensive Haiku Saijiki”), Kadokawa Shoten, Tokyo, 2006
Fay’s Note: The original haiku is written in a colloquial style. ‘mijikayo’ (short night) is a summer kigo.
口笛ひゆうとゴッホ死にたるは夏か 藤田湘子
kuchibue hyû to gohho shinitaru wa natsu ka
a whistle’s whistling sound
was it summer
when van Gogh died?
Shoshi Fujita
from “Haiku Dai-Saijiki” (“Comprehensive Haiku Saijiki”), Kadokawa Shoten, Tokyo, 2006
Fay’s Note: Shoshi Fujita (1926-2005)
遠野とは沼底の町夏霞 高野ムツオ
tôno towa numazoko no machi natugasumi
Tono is a town
at the bottom of a marsh
summer mist
Mutsuo Takano
from ‘Haidan,’ (‘Haiku Stage’) a monthly haiku magazine, September 2016 Issue, Honami Shoten, Tokyo
Fay’s Note: Tono is in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Kunio Yanagida, a folklorist, wrote ‘Tono Monogatari’ (Stories of Tono), published in 1910, featuring the area’s anecdotes and oral traditions.
わが旅のこれより先は大夕焼 長谷川 櫂
waga tabi no koreyori saki wa ôyuyake
my journey
from here
just a vast sunset
Kai Hasegawa
from ‘Haidan,’ (‘Haiku Stage’) a monthly haiku magazine, September 2016 Issue, Honami Shoten, Tokyo
Fay’s Note: ‘yuuyake (or ‘yuyake’) (sunset) is a summer kigo.
