＊原文＊
The following kasen was first published in Frogpond 35:3, in autumn 2012
Sparrows' Monogatari*
renju:
Hana Nestieva, Jerusalem, Israel
Valeria Simonova-Cecon, Cividale del Friuli, Italy
Origa. Okemos, Michigan
sabaki:
eiko yachimoto, Yokosuka City, Japan
| New Year's Day-- |
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| not a cloud in the sky and |
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| sparrows' monogatari |
Ransetsu* |
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| a silk ball ornament |
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| made for the old man |
eiko |
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| timetable and |
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| bare necessities in my bag |
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| catching the first train |
Valeria |
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| a fast-talking baritone |
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| hurrying out the gate |
Origa |
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| moon-viewing party |
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| a note of lemongrass |
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| in the tea vapor |
Hana |
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| the sheer shadow of mums |
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| she placed in the alcove |
e |
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| *** *** *** |
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| deep into autumn semester |
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| the savings melting away |
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| from the thrift box |
H |
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| a loud sneeze breaks |
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| the silence of the library |
V |
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| am I in love? |
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| even the stained gargoyle |
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| looks romantic |
V |
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| sending off the courtesan |
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| with a dragon tattoo |
O |
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| to write or not to write |
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| a sense of agony |
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| in the Kreutzer Sonata |
e |
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| these endless steppes covered |
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| with snow and moonlight |
V |
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| only crows |
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| watch the mountain chapel |
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| near the frozen falls |
H |
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| on dilapidated walls |
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| the saints' austere faces |
O |
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| drafts from nowhere |
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| carried to me a whisper, |
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| “Carpe Diem” |
e |
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| a future father flies |
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| a kite on the shore |
H |
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| oh, princess Almond, |
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| at last the sunbeams are bursting |
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| on your fullest bloom |
V |
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| all day long among branches |
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| the uguisu* sings |
O |
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| *** *** *** |
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| with poignancy |
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| "we will always love you" |
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| Whitney Houston |
O |
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| he asked her name one night |
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| before the atomic-bomb |
e |
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| under the umbrella |
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| I see grandpa kissing grandma |
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| why the tears? |
H & e |
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| almost vanishing, words |
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| on the black and white photo |
V |
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| a sudden thunder shakes |
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| the water in the pond |
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| where soft reflections blur |
V |
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| a great blue heron takes off |
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| with graceful fluency |
O |
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| from a sumi-bucket |
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| her dripping brush lands on |
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| the paper-spread floor |
e |
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| the cook and the math teacher |
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| smoking together |
H |
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| stirring in his sleep |
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| a mongrel puppy sees dreams |
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| we'll never know |
V |
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| a boy with Asperger’s |
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| mumbling numbers |
e |
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| through the city smoke |
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| the sanguine moon appears |
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| somewhat weathered |
O |
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| do you hear a French horn |
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| behind the chirping crickets? |
O |
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| *** *** *** |
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| counting cockscombs |
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| I watch the morning dew |
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| just about to spill |
O |
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| she stayed here for a while, |
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| concludes the private detective |
V |
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| with her famous short hair |
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| she gives a press conference |
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| before leaving Rome |
e |
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| the statue of Venus |
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| naked under the rain |
H |
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| by the rear porch |
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| the garden wheelbarrow |
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| full of gentle pink petals |
H |
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| reflected in the soap bubbles |
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| a fresh haiku book |
O |
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| *** *** *** |
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Tomegaki for Sparrows’ Monogatari
eiko yachimoto
June 10, 2012, Yokosuka City, Japan
It was sometime last year when I received an invitation from Valeria to lead a kasen. Still feeling somewhat vulnerable after the East Japan Great Earthquake, I was not ready to accept. Being a sabaki, or a leader/facilitator/editor/director/poet in one, takes much energy, solid psychological footings, rich experience, and time. I did not decline either. We decided to start our kasen on January the first, 2012 via e-mail exchange.
Valeria in Italy invited Hana in Israel and Origa in the USA, which made a renju of four from four different countries. On top of our love of renku, we had one solid thing in common: we all feel attached to Russia and the Russian language. More, we share in the conviction that language must not be perceived as a convenient tool to get the surface meaning across. Language with its intricate life and its gradation of shadows is the expression of humanity loaded with elements of monogatari (or story) and nuanced feelings. In my high school days I spent a great many hours reading Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Dostoyevski and when time came to select a college and a major, I chose to study Russian literature and language. For their part, Origa and Valeria have taken courses on Japanese; Hana’s father, too, acquired the Japanese language after many years of efforts.
Renku, with its distinctive charm and collaborative spirit, is a gift to humanity. In this on-line kasen we express our respect to past masters: to Hattori Ransetsu by borrowing his sparrows for our hokku; to Shiki by Origa’s writing a subtle homage verse to his famous cockscomb haiku. And our ageku written by Origa celebrates the kind of trust we all put in the genre of haikai. These important positions of a kasen took on special meaning for us surrounded by witty, modern, and delightful links from Hana and Valeria. And I express my love and respect for Russian literary tradition through my verse on Tolstoy.
Writing a kasen with three Russian ladies with individual creativity was not necessarily smooth sailing, but we shared a celestial joy in completing the poetry on March 11, 2012 on which occasion Origa and Valeria had this to say:
Origa:
"Japanese people have been an example and inspiration to all others when the world was watching how they withstood the disaster: with great spirit, endurance, and selfless interaction and feeling of communality. The feeling of collaboration lies at the basis of Japanese linked poetry-and that's the most important thing that we learn when we compose renku, especially with our Japanese friends. With deep gratitude we look at them, learn from them, and collaborate with them."
Valeria:
“When we write linking poetry, we don't link only words and verses-we link to each other. Each renku session is a precious moment of interpersonal (and in our case, intercultural) communication. I'm really grateful to our sabaki and other renju for ‘Sparrows' Monogatari’ and to the Japanese people for inventing such a wonderful genre of poetry."
Hana, Valeria, Origa, we have not yet met each other in person, but I now feel we are cousins.
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