English Original
a tuft of wisteria
arranged in a vase
was too short
it couldn't reach
the surface of the tatami
Japanese Hermeneutics, 2002
edited by Michael F. Marra and translated by Haga Toru
Masaoka Shiki
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
一簇紫藤
插在花瓶裡
卷鬚太短了
無法碰觸
榻榻米的表面
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
一簇紫藤
插在花瓶里
卷须太短了
无法碰触
榻榻米的表面
Bio Sketch
Masaoka Shiki (October 14, 1867 -- September 19, 1902) was a Japanese poet and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku, and he also published articles on the reform of tanka. Some scholars and poets consider Shiki to be one of the four great haiku masters, the others being Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa.
This poem of wisteria may be considered "objective" in the ordinary sense of the term. But if someone says that there is not enough subjectivity in it to be a poem, he simply does not understand it. People are not aware that mijikakereba/ tatami no ue ni/ todokazarikeri is a voice of subjectivity the poet could not hold. He complains that the tuft could not reach the tatami as though this were important. It was his true inner voice. The poet, who was totally unable to see the grandeur of mountains or the agitation of the ocean, faced instead a tuft of wisteria at his pillow side and made this song. A deep tune comes from inside the poet and appeals to our mind.
ReplyDelete-- excerpted from Haga Toru's "Saito Mokichi's Poetics of Shasei," Japanese Hermeneutics: Current Debates on Aesthetics and Interpretation, edited by Michael F. Marra, p. 210)
See my detailed reply in "Poetic Musings: Best Known and Most Controversial Tanka by Masaoka Shiki," accessed at https://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.com/2014/05/poetic-musings-best-known-and-most.html
In his 1984 book, titled Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era, Donald Keene thinks “the sixth poem of the sequence implies more” than the opening poem does:
DeleteSprays of wisteria
arranged in a vase --
the blossoms hang down,
and by my sickbed
spring is coming to an end
Below is Shiki’s 10-tanka sequence about the wisteria, which was translated by Burton Watson (Masaoka Shiki: Selected Poems by Shiki Masaoka, Columbia University Press, 1997, pp. 105-110)
Sprays of wisteria
arranged in a vase
are so short
they don't reach
to the tatami
Sprays of wisteria
arranged in a vase --
on cluster
dangles down
on the piled-up books
When I look
at wisteria blossoms
I think with longing of far-off
times,
the Nara emperors,
the emperors of Kyoto
When I look
at wisteria blossoms
I want to get out
my purple paints
and paint them
If I were to paint
the purple
of wisteria blossoms,
I ought to paint it
a deep purple
Sprays of wisteria
arranged in a vase --
the blossoms hang down,
and by my sickbed
spring is coming to an end
Last year in spring
I saw the wisterias
in Kameido --
seeing this wisteria now,
I recall it
Before the
red blossoms
of the peonies,
the wisteria's purple
comes into blossom
These wisterias
have blossomed early --
the Kameido wisterias
won't be out for
ten days or more
If you stick the stems
in strong sake
the wilted flowers
of the wisteria
will bloom again like new
For more about Donald Keene’s Comment, see "Poetic Musings: Best Known and Most Controversial Tanka by Masaoka Shiki," accessed at https://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.com/2014/05/poetic-musings-best-known-and-most.html