Wednesday, October 18, 2017

One Man's Maple Moon: Wonderland Tanka by Kozue Uzawa

English Original

a robin
with spring air
lands here
I’ll fly to Wonderland
to see my other self

Skylark, 3:1, Summer 2015

Kozue Uzawa


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一隻知更鳥
攜帶春天的氣息
光臨此地
我將會飛到奇妙仙境
探望另一個自我

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一只知更鸟
携带春天的气息
光临此地
我将会飞到奇妙仙境
探望另一个自我


Bio Sketch

Kozue Uzawa is a retired university professor. She works as editor of the English tanka journal GUSTS. She composes tanka both in Japanese and English. She also translates Japanese tanka into English and co-published Ferris Wheel: 101 Modern and Contemporary Tanka (Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2006), and Kaleidoscope: Selected Tanka of Shuji Terayama (Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 2008). Ferris Wheel received the 2007 Donald Keene Translation Award for Japanese Literature from Columbia University.

1 comment:

  1. A renewed sense of wonder is effectively conveyed through the symbolically rich and emotionally resonant juxtaposition of the "robin' (harbinger of spring), Wonderland (land of makebelieve/imagination), and "other self" (inner self).

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