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Tanka by Kisaburo Konoshima
newly translated by David Callner
This is the fourth in a series of new translations of selected tanka by
Kisaburo Konoshima (1893 – 1984).
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1957
暴風雨をはらむ黒雲波にやどしハドソンはいま上潮にもむ
Black clouds swollen with rain
sheltered beneath its waves the Hudson jostles in the rising tide |
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外出には杖忘れぬやうと姪の手紙失笑しつつも我齢をかぞふ
Don't forget your cane when you go out - says my niece's letter
I laugh impulsively but reckon my age |
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実子六人孫十二人婿も嬬も皆すこやかなり念仏もうす
Six children of my own - twelve grandchildren - sons-in-law and my wife
all are sound - I offer a prayer to Amitabha |
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逆縁にあふこともなく古希に近しこの幸ひに念仏もうす
Nearing three score and ten - never having met with gyakuen
I offer a prayer to Amitabha for this blessing
(Gyakuen - when parents survive their children. D.C.) |
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四十余年つれそふ妻との初の出会いつどこなりしか今は憶へず
Wedded over forty years - when and where I first met my wife
I no longer remember |
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台風誘導の方途ありぬべしなどと思ひヌクレアテストも報憎みもてきく
The means for inducing a typhoon should not exist
I listen to news of a nuclear test with hatred |
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川芥幾多淀に渦まくなかの二つひたと寄添ひ流れて去りぬ
Two from many pieces of trash eddying in the river's backwater
cuddle together and float away |
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寒天下破れサックに裸身を包み兵隊さん助けてと泣き居りし女
In freezing cold her naked body wrapped with a torn sack
"Help the soldiers" - a woman is crying |
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終戦時の北満の修羅語る時壮者はつひに声あげて慟哭す
When speaking of the war-end carnage in North Manchuria
grown men ultimately cry out and weep |
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血ぬらずとも死ぬ環境におけば人は死ぬ獄友幾多かくて殺戮されぬ
While not bloodied people still die in environments of death
in this way many an imprisoned friend was slaughtered |
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シベリアの白樺の林は今や青からん同胞幾万の死屍を肥料に
Siberia's birch forests must now be green
fertile with the corpses of thousands of my countrymen |
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十二年我等が骨に刻む実態の幾何を知るや憧蘇する若人等
Of the truth that we carved into our bones for twelve years
young men who long for a revival - O how much do you know? |
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低きビルとり毀されて次々に数十階の層楼其跡に建つ
Small buildings are torn down one after the other
skyscrapers rise in their wake |
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団雲の悠々をすぐる隙間より人間の巣が其処ここに見ゆ（飛行）
Clusters of clouds pass slowly beneath - through the openings
human nests are here and there (From an airplane) |
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団雲のかげり地上に黒く落ちそのかげ徐
々に村々を襲ふ
Darkness from the clouds falls blackly on the earth
steadily invading villages |
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大楡の影沼に落ち水藻咲く少年独り釣糸垂れて居り
The shadow of a huge elm falls on a marsh - duckweed blooms
alone a boy is dangling his fishing line |
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いはれなき孤愁を自覚する年頃か少年眼うるみをもてり
An age when lonely contemplation awakes for no reason?
the eyes of youth are blurred |
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第五街の雑踏をゆきつつポケットに小さき貝殻をふと探りあて
Walking the Fifth Avenue hustle and bustle
I absently finger some little shells in my pocket |
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真砂撰拾ふ土佐の娘が呉れし貝掌にのせて第五街騒音にたつ
Shells gathered in the sand by a young woman of Tosa
I hold them on my palm amidst the Fifth Avenue hustle and bustle
(Tosa is the old name for Kochi Prefecture. D.C.) |
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寄せ返す波際の真砂撰り拾ふ生業もあり土佐桂浜
Gathering shells from an undulating beach
this is a livelihood at the Kurihama shore in Tosa |
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三翠園今帝御寝間の間もありて我も寝ねたり今は旅館にて
The Sansui-en Inn has a room where once lodged the emperor
I too am staying at this inn |
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寂光院石段わきに住む農家藁屋の軒に干大根を吊し
Farmers who live near the stone steps of Jyakkou-in Temple
have hung dried daikon beneath thatch eaves
(Jyakkou-in Temple in the village of Ohara, outside of Kyoto. D.C.) |
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内灘に理路整然と語られし観念は畢竟に現実とは遊離し
Cogently expressed at Uchinada
a concept ultimately removed from reality
(This refers to the opposition against U.S. military base construction in
Uchinada, Ishikawa Prefecture. D.C.) |
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政治屋とジャーナリズムが笛吹けば大衆は虚妄と手をとりて踊り
When cheap politicians and journalists blow their horns
the masses join hands with falsehood and dance |
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先づ軍用に発達したる飛行機なりき原子力の処理には人類よ智かれ
As with the airplane first developed for military purposes
O mankind - be wise with atomic energy |
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短歌は亡ぶ否亡びずと他人はいへ我は歌を詠むかかはりはなく
People argue whether tanka perish or do not perish
I compose poems regardless |
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この老醜正に我貌真向ひの飾棚の硝子戸に物喰める貌
This ugly old man - surely it is my face
the face chewing something in the cabinet glass |
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昨夜たちし東京の記憶新にてホノルルは清潔に整へる街
Last night's Tokyo still fresh in mind
Honolulu seems a neatly arranged town |
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我今や故国を二つ持てるらしホノルルに辿り着きホッと息する
Apparently I now have two countries
I arrive in Honolulu and breathe a sigh of relief |
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潮音の赤い表紙が縁にて隣席の佳人と車窓を語る
On a train Chou-on's red binding brings us together
I speak of the passing scenery with a beautiful woman beside me
(Chou-on is the name of the Kamakura-based poetry society Konoshima
joined in 1950 - the society's red bound quarterly was also called Chou-on.
D.C.) |
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Hudson: A Collection of Tanka by Kisaburo Konoshima
Translated into English by David Callner
Tokyo, Japan: Japan Times, 2005.
ISBN 4-7890-1179-8
5.5 x 8.25, perfectbound, 136 pp.
2500 Yen ($25 US).
To purchase, contact David Callner:
davidcallner@hotmail.com
The book is selling in America for $19, shipping included.
Payment can be made via Paypal and a copy will be mailed directly to the buyer.
Hudson is also on consignment in various Manhattan bookstores
and in Japan. |
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For additional information about the poet Kisaburo Konoshima, see the
review "Konoshima's American Diary" by Michael McClintock, in Simply
Haiku v3n3, June 2005.
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David Callner was born in 1956. His youth was spent in France, England,
Italy, and America. Since 1978 he has lived in Japan. He has written
four novels, all as yet unpublished. He teaches English as an adjunct
at Nagano University.
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Copyright 2006: Simply Haiku
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