Rengetsu and the war dead 2

RENGETSU also wrote another poem about the war dead 

Whose child were they ? 

Kiku mama ni 

Sode koso nurure 

Michi nobe 

Sarasu kabane wa

Ta ga ko naruran 

Hearing reports about recent event

This sleeves of mine are wet with tears

Along the road abandoned 

Corpses pushed to one side like trash

Whose child were they ? 

I have read too much into sarasu but it has more than one meaning

The ta in the last line is a very archaic variant of tare / dare 

RAIN ON AZALEAS

 #Densutejo #sutejo #haiku #azaleas #rain 

RAIN ON AZALEAS

Den Sutejo 1633 - 1698 was a woman haiku poet who was a student of Basho and of Pure Land and later Zen Buddhism under Bankei eventually setting up a small nunnery for women.

Nure iro ya

Ame no shita teru 

Himotsutsuji 

wet color ! rain from down / under shining  / princess azalea 

Nure from nuru to paint or coat  Iro - color 

A search for princess azaleas brings up the name of several modern varieties that could quite possibly be hybrids or cultivars from whatever type of japanese azalea is being referred to ?

When you think probably of rain drops on azaleas shining and dripping bear in mind even princesses did not wear much in the way of jewellery and its possible Sutejo is not thinking of beads  but perhaps some expensive imported "watered" silk or satin or brocade over robe and the pattern the rain drops are forming on azaleas both flowers and foliage ? 

Cherry Blossoms are a lesson

#densutejo #haiku #sakura #japanesepoetry

HANA WA YO NO

TAMESHI NI SAKU YA

HITOSAKARI 

Den Sutejo

Flowers for this world 

a lesson their blossoming

Brief prosperity

The translation is mine

(copyright J.Vaux 2022)

Hana is flowers and usually in haiku cherry blossom sakura

Yo here is world not leave

I take the no as being for not of in English 

It can function as both in Japanese

Tameshi can mean example precedent experience test trial 

Saku the verb to blossom 

I think an example being a lesson works best in English due to the final line.

Hitosakari hito plus sakari is one of those words that could be translated by a whole sentence! Something that prospers flourishes is at its best just once or for a brief time.

Sakari is probably from the verb sakaru rather than saku.

This seems to be a choice invoking the word sakura without actually using it?

One translator has this as temporary prosperity but I hope brief is allowable and its usage along with lesson actually enabled me to have it be meaningful in English and follow the 5 - 7 - 5 format of Japanese!

the moss path

The Moss Path 

#RENGETSU 

Furu dera no 

Koke ji wa ato mo 

Nakari keri

Yona yona goto ni 

Tsuki wa toe domo 

Literally 

Old temple of

Moss path subject remains though 

No more / gone away

Nb 2 verbs nakari plus keri  completely 

night night every ni as time marker 

Moon toe seems to be an abbreviated form of hitoe only 

Domo possibly adverb here or idea of moon as only companion 

My translation 

At the old temple 

Only a trace left

Of the moss path

Night after night

However the Moon visits 

Some further notes

 nakaru not to be 

Keri is not a filler word to complete the syllable count here but suggests the disappearance of the path under moss is recent ? 

Moss can grow very quickly 

While there is a now famous moss temple this could have been any of dozens of smaller temples up in the hills around Kyoto 

Perhaps its the rainy season and the priest or gardener monk put off clearing the path 

It seems Rengetsu glimpsed the path by moonlight ? 

Perhaps she was hoping to moon view or perhaps that temple banned women even nuns ? 

Thoughts on Citrus and Orange Blossom

Thoughts on Citrus 

A favorite theme of Japanese poetry is the scent of orange blossom specifically the scent of Tachibana which doesnt actually have edible fruit.

But like the rest of the world the Japanese got their citrus fruits from China. 

While the ancestors of most of the many varieties of citrus fruit seem to derive from one or two or three species so closely genetically similar they could be crossed by accident or intent to make fertile hybrids it seems to have been Chinese gardeners and orchardists who developed Citrons  Buddhas Hand Yuzu Mandarins Bitter Oranges Sweet Oranges Lemons Limes Pomelos Tangerines Kumquats and more.

Oh and the Mediterranean citrus fruits probably reached Europe via the Arabs importing seed or trees from India and China or hybridizing those imports with a local variant of the Citron.

Those Japanese and other orchardists in California ?

Those varieties are hybrids.

Enjoying a so called sumo fruit or tangelo or a blood orange?

Thank some ancient traveller from SE Asia who brought the seeds or fruit to China ! 

Hagoromo in Ukiyo-e

 #ukiyo-e #hagoromo #japanese prints 

HAGOROMO in Ukiyo-e 

Hiroshige has focused on the maiden herself suggesting she is changing into a bird and showing us some of the foreshore at TAGO which is still a popular picnic spot partly because of this legend but also for the views across the bay of FujiSan 

Chikanobu however seems to have thinking of both the Noh play the original legend and his love of detailed costumes though his Celestial Maiden seems to be wearing Chinese fabrics and the feathers drape over branches as if they were fabric. 

I wonder if someone had done a Kabuki version of the Noh play?

Don't forget to scroll back to the partner post to this one showing photos of Noh actor costumes.

Angel Robes

HAGOROMO 

There is a #Noh play called #HAGOROMO about the ancient legend of the fisherman who found a celestial maiden bathing and took her feathered over robe.

This is mentioned in poems and depicted in prints.

Prints I'll save for the next 

Here are some images of Noh  costumes.

Note the plumage pattern in gold and consider how it would have shimmered in a stage lit only by daylight or lanterns if an evening performance.

On this costume the gold dominates but this makes the darker outlines of feathers emphasize the actors movements on stage.

Finally while this is not a photo it shows yet another costume design and I wanted to group these together as the ukiyo-e artists take a different approach to the story.

Note how all three costumes feature a phoenix in or on the headdress as well as the plumage pattern along the top and down over most of the robe and a fan. The pine tree is a reminder of the foreshore pines at TAGO that the maiden spread her robes over. 

Next post ; how did ukiyo-e artists depict this story.