Thursday, March 10, 2022

One Man's Maple Moon: Violence and Nursery Songs Tanka by Fumi Saito

English Original

violence
like this is beautiful
living in the world
all day long I sing
my nursery songs


Fumi Saito


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

暴力
像是這樣是很美的
活在世上
我整天都在唱
幼兒園歌曲

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

暴力
像是这样是很美的
活在世上
我整天都在唱
幼儿园歌曲
 
 
Bio Sketch

Daughter of a military officer who was noted for his verse-writing talent, Fumi Saito began writing poetry in the traditional 31-syllable tanka form in her early teens. Her first book of tanka, Fish Songs, published in 1940, immediately established her as a brilliant young poet. She was inducted into the Japan Art Academy in 1993 and invited to serve as meshiudo (a position similar to the Poet Laureate's) at the Imperial Palace in 1997.

1 comment:

  1. ... But the times were against her. As Japan increasingly became embroiled in wars, the tanka genre was used a vehicle for nationalist poetry which was mostly written by men. Still at the beginning of the Second World War, in a quiet womanly way there was Fumi Saito publishing such poems as:

    violence
    like this is beautiful
    living in the world
    all day long I sing
    my nursery songs

    -- excerpted from Those Women Writing Haiku, edited by Jane Reichhold, 1998

    The contrasts (ugly vs beautiful; violent vs peaceful/joyful,...) between two parts of the tanka are aurally and emotionally poignant and thought-provoking (when evaluated in the politico-military context of Japanese imperialist concept of The "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere")

    ReplyDelete