English Original
the leaves of trees
have an agonized look
at night
I think with wonderment
of the sound of the forest
Breasts of Snow, 2004
Fumiko Nakajo
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
樹木上的葉子
看起來很沮喪
在晚上
驚喜地我想起
森林之聲
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
树木上的叶子
看起来很沮丧
在晚上
惊喜地我想起
森林之声
Bio Sketch
Fumiko Nakajo (中城ふみ子, 1922-54) was a strong-willed woman who lived a tragic life. She died from breast cancer at the age of 32, just few months after her first collection of 50 tanka, titled Chibusa Soshitsu (The Loss of Breasts), won the first prize in a nationwide contest sponsored by a major magazine. She is, though almost unknown outside of Japan, considered to be the third in the three most famous Japanese female poets in the last century, right up there with Akiko Yosano and Machi Tawara.
"Breasts of Snow" includes major tanka from Fumiko Nakajo’s two collections, "Chibusa Soshitsu," mentioned above, and "Hana no Genkei" ("A Prototype of Flowers"), published posthumously in 1955. Each page contains one tanka in Japanese and in English, along with the joshi (prefatory note) as an explication and the detailed biological background.
ReplyDeleteFor example:
When I faced the fear of cancer, which is said to be irremediable, I was able for the first time to rise from my conviction of unhappiness and reach for the deepest layer of my life.
the leaves of trees
have an agonized look
at night
I think with wonderment
of the sound of the forest
-- excerpted from "Cool Announcement: Breasts of Snow," accessed at http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.com/2015/05/cool-announcement-breasts-of-snow.html
The shift, from the visual to the auditory and from the physical/natural to the inner/mental, not only changes the tone and mood of the tanka, but also provides a glimpse of joy, reminding me of the front cover tanka of the Japanese edition of "Breasts of Snow:"
haha wo jikuni
ko no kakemeguru
hara no hiru
ki no me wa chikaki
hayashi yori niou
children run around
the axis of their mother
in a daytime field
the fragrance of leaf bud
comes from a near-by forest