Biting NOT Barking: Dying Men Tanka by Saigyo

English Original

There's no gap or break

In the rank of those marching

Under the hill:

An endless line of dying men,

Moving on and on and on ...

Mirror for the Moon, 1971 (translated with an Intro by William R. Lafleur)

Saigyo

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在山下一排排士兵

行軍的隊伍中

沒有任何間隙或中斷:

垂死者的隊伍看似永無止境, 

繼續前進, 繼續前進 ...

    

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在山下一排排士兵

行军的队伍中

没有任何间隙或中断:

垂死者的队伍看似永无止境,

继续前进, 继续前进 ...

Bio Sketch

Saigyō (born 1118, Japan—died March 23, 1190, Ōsaka) was a Japanese Buddhist priest-poet, one of the greatest masters of the tanka, whose life and works became the subject matter of many narratives, plays, and puppet dramas. For more about his life and work, see Mirror for the Moon: A Selection of Poems by Saigyo, translated with an Introduction by William R. Lafleur.

Poetic Musings: Passion Tanka by Saigyo

even someone

free of passion as myself

feels sorrow:

snipe rising from a marsh

at evening in autumn

Selected Poems by Saigyo, 2011 

Buddhist monk-poet Saigyo 

Commentary: A Buddhist monk is supposed to be detached from the "world of red dust," a Buddhist set-phrase for the world and its suffering and passions, as stated in Ls 1&2, but ironically, this conscious detachment leads to the awareness of impermanence (無常, mujō), or transience of things (both "a transient gentle sadness at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the reality of life") as depicted in Ls 4&5, which inspires feelings of pathos as described in L3. 

Visually and emotionally speaking, this self-referential irony, a contrast between religious expectation and emotional/lived reality is effectively depicted in Buddhist monk-poet Saigyo’s passion tanka.

Poetic Musings: Sadness Tanka by Saigyo

All so vague:

In autumn the reasons why

All fall away

And there’s just this

Inexplicable sadness. 

Mirror for the Moon: A Selection of Poems by Saigyo, 1978

Saigyo

Commentary: Saigyo’s poem “works” by conflating leaves with human purposes, season with mood. His depressed response to the fall of leaves and approach of winter is a familiar one, but the basic metaphor implies that leaves in bud or in full flower may signal other moods. 

-- -- excerpted from To the Lighthouse: "Copying to Create: The Role of Imitation and Emulation in Developing Haiku Craft" by Michele Root-Bernstein

Poetic Musings: Dying Men Tanka by Saigyo Hoshi

In the world of men it came to be a time of warfare. Throughout the country -- west, east, north, and south -- there was no place where the war was not being fought. The count of those dying because of it climbed continually and reached an enormous number. It was beyond belief! And for what on earth was this struggle taking place? A most tragic state of affairs 

There's no gap or break

In the rank of those marching

Under the hill:

An endless line of dying men,

Moving on and on and on ...

Saigyo Hoshi

Commentary: This lengthy and sociopolitically conscious prefatory note establishes the thematic and emotive context of the poem while the tanka visually enhances the tone and mood. Saigyo's use of repetition in the last line adds extra emotional weight and psychological depth to the poem. "The irony is that we learn more about the times from this monk-poet who intentionally put distance between himself and what he called the ‘world’ than we do from the poetry of his contemporaries who went on living in the midst of the national capital, writing verses on set themes as if their society were not, in fact, falling apart” (William R. LaFleur, Mirror for the Moon : A Selection of Poems by Saigyo,  p. xiv)

-- -- excerpted from "To the Lighthouse: Joshi (Prefatory Note) as a Poetic Device"