ƒvƒŠƒ}ƒ”ƒF[ƒ‰‚ÌŠª
Compiled by Eiko Yachimoto from original and adapted haiku by Sugita Hisajo, plus one haiku each by Takahama Kyoshi and Eiko Yachimoto and translated into English by Eiko Yachimoto and Susan Alice Stanford.
Spring Spring Spring No season Autumn moon Autumn Autumn No season No season Love verse No season No season Winter Winter moon Summer No season Spring Spring Spring Spring No season No season New Year New Year Summer Summer Summer Autumn Autumn moon Autumn Autumn No season Love Spring Spring No season |
ƒvƒŠƒ}ƒ”ƒF[ƒ‰“ú”ä’J‚Éãʼn‚Ì’¹‚ª‚‚é primavera (5) hibiya ni
hisui
no (7) tori ga kuru (5) spring (5) Hibiya[i]
to jade (p.p.) bird (s.p.) come@
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@ Primavera - Šy‚©‚é‚ׂ«‚Ü‚Ç‚ît‚Ì–é tanoshikarubiki (7) madoi haru
no yo (7) should be enjoyed (7) party spring (p.p.) night
(7) spring night, yet feeling
alone “y”G‚ê‚Ä‹v—‚Ì’ë‚̉肮‚ç‚Þ tsuchi nurete (5) hisajo no niwa no (7) megumuran (5) earth wet (5) Hisajo (p.p.) garden (p.p.) (7)
bud-appears-about-to such wet earth
sea see-far-causes (7) new tower (7)
ŒŽ‚‚µ‰“‚̈îé‚Í‚¤‚
·–¶‚ç‚Ð moon high (5) distant (p.p)
rice ricks (t.p.) lightly fogged (5) æ‚ÉQ‚µŽq‚Ì‚Ê‚‚Ýg‚ÉŸŽ‚Þ
earlier went to sleep child (p.p.) (7) warm body by penetrated
(7)
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@@@@@@@@@ THE END OF THE FIRST
FOLIO Ž‡—z‰Ô‚ÉH—â‚¢‚½‚é
M”Z‚©‚È hydrangeas to (5) autumn chill arrives (7)
Shinano[ii]
(k.) hydrangeas
blooming óŠÔ“Ü‚ê‚ά”‚͉J‚
æ Asama[iii]
when-cloudy (7) Komoro[iv]
(t.p.) rain (!) ‚Æ‚à‚µ‚Ñ‚É‚±‚±‚남‚
Ç‚è‚Ä‹Ý‚©‚¯‚Ê@@
span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;mso-font-kerning:0pt'> lamplight in (5) heart dancing (7) collar have attached (5)
Žwõ‚ߌð‚킵’lj‚Ì
X fingers dye[v] in
turns
(7) chasing-memory (p.p.) forest (7) dyeing each other's fingers
‚Ó‚Ý—ˆ‚é‚â‚Ü‚½P‚Ђ
«‚µŽ•‚Ì‚¢‚½‚Ý letter comes and (5) again attack comes (7) tooth (p.p.)
pain a letter
arrivesc @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ —Ò‚µ‚«‚킪gƒsƒAƒm–‚è‚Å‚æ lonely my own body (7) piano call out do! (7)@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@ lonely to the core... ᓹ‚â~’aÕ‚Ì‘‹–¾‚©‚è@@ snowy road (5) Christmas festival (p.p.) (7) window
lights (5) a snowy path @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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‘š‚̽‚É‚©‚©‚é‘@ŒŽ frost (p.p.) branches in (7) hanging crescent moon
(7) a sliver of moon ¼‚̪‚Ì‘Û‚È‚ß‚ç‚©‚
É´…‹z‚Ó pine (p.p.) root (p.p.) (5) moss smoothly (7) spring water
suck over the pine
roots Žq‚ç‚̉‚ð‚¢‚»‚®‚Ü‚¶‚Æ‚à children/daughters (p.p.) marriage-fate (7)
hurry-should-not-I-guess giving
daughters
into marriage had best not be hurried@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@ Hisajo
(adapted)@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ‹óP‚Ì“”‚ðÁ‚µ‚¨‚‚
ê‰Ô‚ÌŽ› air raid (p.p.) (7) light (o.p.) extinguish tardy (7) flowers/cherry
blossoms (p.p) temple (5) air raid the cherry blossom temple is slow to turn off its
lights@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@ Hisajo@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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‰—ˆ‚é
Œ¬[‚«‚ÉŠô‚Æ tsubame kuru noki (7)
fukaki ni ikutose swallows keep returning
too @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@ THE END OF THE SECOND
FOLIO @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ “Œ•—‚‚⎨Œ»‚éT‚¤‚Ȃ@@ east wind blows (k.) (5) ear appearing (7) bobbed
hair
(5) the first gust of
east wind ”nŒ–؈¤‚µ‚G‚ꂵŒ
ö‰€@ @ andromeda[vi]
lovingly
(7) touch-and public park it lovingly touched
me ‹N‹ÆÕ—n˜F‚ÍãÞ‚Ä‚è—ä‹ß‚ company-opening-commemoration[vii]
(5)
furnace standing (7) peak near (5) Establishment Day [–ë”nŒk‚Ö‚ÆŒü‚ÓŽ©“
®ŽÔ Miyamakei[viii]
to (7) go towards cars (7) ‚Ü‚ä‹Ê”ƒ‚Ó‚â˜HŽŸ‚ÉŠC”Z‚«`’¬@ mayudama mayudama[ix]
buy
(k.) (7) lane at sea deep-rich (7) port-town (5) buying mayudama @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ‹g‘‚Ì–n‚ðŽt‚ÉŽ˜‚µ‚Ä‚·‚é@@@@@
span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:11.0pt;mso-font-kerning:0pt'>
New Year (p.p.) Chinese ink (7)
teacher[x]
for
grinding do (7) New Year calligraphy ƒRƒŒƒ‰‘D‚¢‚‚܂ʼn«‚
É繫‚è‚î‚é cholera ship[xi] (5)
until
when? offing in (7) tied (6) the cholera ship ‘«‚¤‚‚‚µ‚–ƒ‰á’ ‚
É•a‚Þ @
legs beautifully (7) linen-mosquito net in sick (7) ankles properly crossed ‚«K‚Ó”ž“J‚̉¹‚Í‚
¨‚à‚µ‚ë‚â blow-learnt (5) wheat-whistle (p.p.) sound (t.p.) (7) fun, isnft it
(5) I can blow
it! the wheat
whistle makes a fun sound@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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–~‚Ì‚¤‚‚µŠGÎ
‚߂邪‚²‚Æ‚µ<
pan
lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;mso-font-kerning:0pt'> Obon[xii]
(p.p.) projected-image[xiii]
(7) smiles as though (7) the image by the
bon-altar ‚µ‚낵‚ë‚Æ‚
Í‚È‚Ñ‚ç‚»‚è‚ÊŒŽ‚Ì‹e
white white and (5) petals in place (7) moon (p.p.) chrysanthemum[xiv] white on white ƒTƒtƒ@ƒCƒAF‚̬ˆ±
H—ˆ‚Ê
sapphire coloured (p.p.) (7) small-mackerel autumn has come
(7) small sapphire-colored
mackerel @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@ THE END OF THE THIRD
FOLIO áP‚½‚Ì‚µ•’“¸‚Ì”üŽð‚
Ì‚í‚«Ÿ‚ß‚è<
pan
lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;mso-font-kerning:0pt'>
Hisajo clay-jar fun (5) grape (p.p.) beautiful-alcohol (7)
boiled-clarified enjoying my
stoneware jar ΂ÉÀ‚ê‚Ή_‚É—zˆì‚ê rock on when-sit (7) clouds in sunlight overflowing
(7) I sit on a
rock –hl‚ÌÈ—ö‚Ӊ̂âˆé
Ø“E‚Þ sakimori-soliders[xv]
(p.p.) (5) wives lust for poems (k.) (7) isona-seaweed[xvi]
pick (5) the
sakimori-soldiers' ŠâäàäÌ‚è‚ÌŠR–½j
@@@@@@@ native lettuce gathering (p.p.) (7) cliff life-line
(7) to get native
lettuce ‰Ôˆß‚Ê‚®‚â‚܂‚í‚é•
R‚¢‚ë‚¢‚ë blossom-viewing-kimono (5) remove as entangle (7) strings
various blossom viewing kimono ‰J‚É“”—¬‚·‰Ì•‘ŠêÀ‚
Ì–é rain in lights flow (7) Kabuki-za theatre[xviii]
(p.p.) night (7) flowing through the night
rain @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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FOLIO |
SUGITA
HISAJO
Sugita Hisajo (1890 – 1946) was the foremost female haiku poet of the first half of the twentieth century. Brought up in privilege in Okinawa and Taiwan as the daughter of a colonial administrator and a high-ranking ikebana teacher, Hisajo was encouraged to write, paint and make music from childhood. She was unusual for her class and generation in that she made a love marriage, but the promising student of Western-style painting she had fallen in love with, disappointed her when he gave up his vocation to teach art in a high school in provincial Kokura in Kyushu. Hisajo was introduced to haiku, then considered a masculine form of poetry, by one of her brothers when he came to visit her there. Her rapid success further soured her marriage. After her fatherfs death, she had a breakdown and stayed for almost a year with her mother in Tokyo. Her mother tried to negotiate a divorce, but faced with the prospect of permanently losing her two daughters, Hisajo returned to Kyushu.
As a poet, Hisajo was mentored by the extremely powerful poet, novelist, editor and commentator Takahama Kyoshi and developed an intense master-disciple attachment to him and she finally reached one of the top positions in his haiku organization, Hototogisu. Hisajo founded her own haiku magazine, Hanagoromo, in 1932. In 1936, for reasons that probably include rivalry on the part of Kyoshifs daughter Tatsuko, Hisajo was publically expelled from Hototogisu. It became difficult for her to publish her work. When it became apparent that Kyoshi was not going to allow her to rejoin Hototogisu, she fell into a deep depression and largely gave up writing. During the air-raids that bombarded Kokura in 1944 – 45 Hisajo was lived alone. (Her husband was permanently stationed at the school where he worked.) She suffered from acute anxiety and may have behaved erratically at times. She was admitted against her will into a home for the insane where she died of kidney failure and malnutrition, one of many casualties of the post-war years during which food was hard to find.
Hisajo was an innovative and extremely skilled haiku poet. She initially used the subject matter of her own life as a woman, daughter, mother, housewife and to some extent eNew Womanf capturing the modernizing atmosphere of the time and a wide range of moods in vivid, occasionally erotic poems. Her later work was less confessional. She drew on historical documents, particularly documents related to northern Kyushu, and used many different registers to create complex, multilayered haiku and haiku sequences some of which include the ghostly presences of women from much earlier times.
[i] Hibiya is the district of Tokyo developed around Edo castle. During the Meiji era it was one of the first parts of the city where Western style buildings were built.
[ii] Shinano is the old name for Nagano Prefecture, the alpine area where her father was born. She wrote this while there for his funeral in 1918.
[iii] Mt Asama is the most active volcano on the main Japanese island of Honshu. It is situated on the border of Nagano and Gunma Prefectures.
[iv] Komoro is a city in Nagano Prefecture.
[v] This refers to a childrenfs game in which friends dye one anotherfs little fingers in the juice from impatiens petals as a love token.
[vi] Literally, horse-drunk-tree, this plant is both beautiful and poisonous.
[vii] This refers the holiday to commemorate the establishment of the Yahata smelting furnace, established in 1901 close to Kokura, the city in Kyushu where Hisajo spent most of her adult life.
[viii] Miyamakei is a gorge famous for its autumn leaves.
[ix] Mayudama are New Year decorations that look like alternating pink and white silkworm cocoons on bare twigs.
[x] The person referred to is Takahama Kyoshi, whose position within Hototogisu was almost that of a guru. It was considered an honour to serve him
[xi] This can be read as a metaphor for Hisajo. After Kyoshi expelled her from Hototogisu, there were a number of occasions when he ignored the fact that she had waited a considerable time to meet him and refused to see her.
[xii] Obon is the festival of the dead when graves are cleaned and the souls of dead family members are believed to return home.
[xiii] This refers to a kind of magic lantern which projected an image of the dead person onto the lantern shade.
[xiv] White chrysanthemums are often used for funerals.
[xv] The sakimori were peasant soldiers from northern Honshu forced to man forts in distant Kyushu, close to Kokura where Hisajo lived, in the 7th and 8th centuries. The poems they wrote longing for their wives are very famous.
[xvi] Isona is a form of edible seaweed.
[xvii] An obi is a sash worn with a kimono. Women wear a number of other ties under the obi to hold the kimono closed and the padding in place.