#hyakuninisshu 29 mitsune ooshi koochi #waka #japanesepoetry
aristocrat provincial governor and one of the people who helped compile the kokinshu anthology.
Kokoro ate ni
Orabaya oramu
Hatsu shimo
Oki madowaseru
Shiragiku no hana.
There's nothing quite like confronting damaged plants to freak out a gardener or the owner of a garden. This is one of those waka that describe a simple event but the poet's skilled use of language turns his description of his dismay into a masterpiece.
word its something like
heart hope or hit ? at /on
fold / break if only (i could) I wish to break / fold / bend?
oramu is reinforcing orabaya or oraba ya ?
first / new frost on
place = confused / perplexed his position state of mind and the flowers
white chrysantheums of flowers
It seems he's come outside to pick or select flowers for cutting and to his horror found there was a severe unexpected frost and his beloved flowers are at the least marred or will be when they thaw or a solid mass of ice that cant be cut without damaging the whole plant
I have to confess I'm not entirely sure I understand the second line as well as I could even after consulting the Bungo manual.
I'm welcome to ideas on that!
A Gwailo's View of Han Zi ! A Blog featuring my experiments with Han Zi and digital typographic art and articles on Chinese derived characters. Also some articles on Chinese characters in general and their use of multiple Asian languages.
Saturday, 29 August 2015
Saturday, 22 August 2015
Haiku and Linking Lines
Due to its popularity I'm reposting this with a few minor edits.
Two examples of #Haiku #micropoetry one by me and one from #chiyo that demonstrate using assonance to link links and images
I wrote this one this morning. The weather changed last night from unusually warm to more wintry after a night storm.
Crows are black and the English Puritans especially their ministers were noted for wearing black and dark colors and its Sunday in my timezone also I've been reading 17th century English History.
The sound of the crows calling early morning bring things together and the use of w in each line helps the linkage or three ideas sounds and images.
Now here's one from #Chiyo who lived in 18th century Japan.
Koe nakuba / sagi ushinawan / kesa no yuki
literally voices if not (having)
herons disappear
now time = morning of snow
Chiyo's town of Matto is near Hakusan a mountain with snow fields now used for skiing. This is a winter poem so I'm keeping with the theme for this series of poems. Koe naKuba Kesa yuKi K K K and the soft contrast of Sagi uSHinawan
Enjoy.
Please support this blog via PayPal.me/JulieVaux
Support me via PayPal.me/JulieVaux
Two examples of #Haiku #micropoetry one by me and one from #chiyo that demonstrate using assonance to link links and images
I wrote this one this morning. The weather changed last night from unusually warm to more wintry after a night storm.
Now the weather's changed
With Puritan Reverence
The Crows speak of rain.
Crows are black and the English Puritans especially their ministers were noted for wearing black and dark colors and its Sunday in my timezone also I've been reading 17th century English History.
The sound of the crows calling early morning bring things together and the use of w in each line helps the linkage or three ideas sounds and images.
Now here's one from #Chiyo who lived in 18th century Japan.
Koe nakuba / sagi ushinawan / kesa no yuki
literally voices if not (having)
herons disappear
now time = morning of snow
Chiyo's town of Matto is near Hakusan a mountain with snow fields now used for skiing. This is a winter poem so I'm keeping with the theme for this series of poems. Koe naKuba Kesa yuKi K K K and the soft contrast of Sagi uSHinawan
Enjoy.
Please support this blog via PayPal.me/JulieVaux
Support me via PayPal.me/JulieVaux
Or PATREON PLEDGE ME
Saturday, 15 August 2015
On writing (BAD) Haiku in English
On Writing (BAD) Haiku in English
Some Observations
Based on seeing bad haiku in twitter and elsewhere
1) No it is NOT just a sentence split into 3 lines!
of 3 lines of phrases
2) The middle line is supposed to be longer whether you're using the 5 7 5 pattern or not
3) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
try to read a translation of Basho or Issa or Chiyo or Shiki that includes notes and a word for word translation or transliteration of the original kanji and kana into romaji so you can study assonance in the original
4) Japanese Poetry does have "Metre"
based on Syllable count and Assonance and Image
all linked and balanced
5) yes emotions are allowed but don't be too emo or sentimental
Look up wabi sabi !
and if you're writing free form
read Song dynasty Chinese Ci / tzu translations too!
Basho and Issa probably did!
6) American and some other school systems should be banned from setting haiku writing as homework assignments until after students have mastered basics like assonance and what the difference is between "blank" verse and "free" verse.
7) Please read a good translation of the Hyaku Nin Isshu or Heian Waka.
Then a good anthology of Haiku
Finally will someone please reprint Daniel Buchanan' One Hundred Famous Haiku!
For those who can't get a hold of one
Here's how he translates Basho's most famous Haiku
Into the old pond / A frog suddenly plunges / The sound of water
note how 3 separate things and images are linked
Action Cause Effect
the japanese is literally
furu ike ya old pond ! / kawazu tobikomu frog leaps / water of sound
it shouldnt work but it does in both japanese and english!
my translation would be
the old temple pond
the frog leaps and dives in
the sound of water
(temple inserted cos Basho is said to have written this while staying at a buddhist temple)
Please Study and Read haiku before trying to write them in English !
Support me via PayPal.me/JulieVaux
Some Observations
Based on seeing bad haiku in twitter and elsewhere
1) No it is NOT just a sentence split into 3 lines!
of 3 lines of phrases
2) The middle line is supposed to be longer whether you're using the 5 7 5 pattern or not
3) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
try to read a translation of Basho or Issa or Chiyo or Shiki that includes notes and a word for word translation or transliteration of the original kanji and kana into romaji so you can study assonance in the original
4) Japanese Poetry does have "Metre"
based on Syllable count and Assonance and Image
all linked and balanced
5) yes emotions are allowed but don't be too emo or sentimental
Look up wabi sabi !
and if you're writing free form
read Song dynasty Chinese Ci / tzu translations too!
Basho and Issa probably did!
6) American and some other school systems should be banned from setting haiku writing as homework assignments until after students have mastered basics like assonance and what the difference is between "blank" verse and "free" verse.
7) Please read a good translation of the Hyaku Nin Isshu or Heian Waka.
Then a good anthology of Haiku
Finally will someone please reprint Daniel Buchanan' One Hundred Famous Haiku!
For those who can't get a hold of one
Here's how he translates Basho's most famous Haiku
Into the old pond / A frog suddenly plunges / The sound of water
note how 3 separate things and images are linked
Action Cause Effect
the japanese is literally
furu ike ya old pond ! / kawazu tobikomu frog leaps / water of sound
it shouldnt work but it does in both japanese and english!
my translation would be
the old temple pond
the frog leaps and dives in
the sound of water
(temple inserted cos Basho is said to have written this while staying at a buddhist temple)
Please Study and Read haiku before trying to write them in English !
Support me via PayPal.me/JulieVaux
Or PATREON PLEDGE ME
Saturday, 8 August 2015
The Memory of a Summer Storm
#japanese poetry #waka
This poem is about 1500 years old and was composed in the Asuka period by Empress Jito. Its 2 in the #hyakuninisshu anthology and 1.28 in the #manyoshu
Haru sugite / Natsu ki ni kerashi / shirotae no /
koromo hosu tefu / ama no kaguyama
Spring has passed
Summer Surprise!
"White sleeves"
robes spread to dry they say
on Amakaguyama.
Now this was probably written when the Imperial Place was south of this mountain which has a shinto shrine and isn't actually very high (google a photo!)
though one commentator claims it was written at the fujiwara palace north of mountain.
A point I have seen NO English language commentators make is that the use of kerashi a fusion of keri and rashi indicates that something most UNseasonal has occurred. A lot of articles and essays and notes draw attention to the use of shirotae which could be translated as white sleeves or white garment and often refers to other white things like snow or frost or fog anything white that covers something else.
These white sleeves are not those of modern kimonos but something more like the big sleeves you see in NO or Kabuki drama that Shinto priests wear so I do mean BIG sleeves!
A lot of scholars presume this is a reference to a legend about white robed heavenly dancers blah blah blah which leads to translators inserting references to angels that do not exist in the original text!
Tefu according to my Bungo Manual means or equals to iu they say and it is said and you may see it written as choo if you have a copy that changes the archaic Japanese into modern Japanese.
OH and the Yamato area while being surrounded by mountains ... well heavier snow usually occurs elsewhere and remember the reference to summer?
and yes I did take liberties with that line to emphasize kerashi !
This poem is about 1500 years old and was composed in the Asuka period by Empress Jito. Its 2 in the #hyakuninisshu anthology and 1.28 in the #manyoshu
Haru sugite / Natsu ki ni kerashi / shirotae no /
koromo hosu tefu / ama no kaguyama
Spring has passed
Summer Surprise!
"White sleeves"
robes spread to dry they say
on Amakaguyama.
Now this was probably written when the Imperial Place was south of this mountain which has a shinto shrine and isn't actually very high (google a photo!)
though one commentator claims it was written at the fujiwara palace north of mountain.
A point I have seen NO English language commentators make is that the use of kerashi a fusion of keri and rashi indicates that something most UNseasonal has occurred. A lot of articles and essays and notes draw attention to the use of shirotae which could be translated as white sleeves or white garment and often refers to other white things like snow or frost or fog anything white that covers something else.
These white sleeves are not those of modern kimonos but something more like the big sleeves you see in NO or Kabuki drama that Shinto priests wear so I do mean BIG sleeves!
A lot of scholars presume this is a reference to a legend about white robed heavenly dancers blah blah blah which leads to translators inserting references to angels that do not exist in the original text!
Tefu according to my Bungo Manual means or equals to iu they say and it is said and you may see it written as choo if you have a copy that changes the archaic Japanese into modern Japanese.
OH and the Yamato area while being surrounded by mountains ... well heavier snow usually occurs elsewhere and remember the reference to summer?
and yes I did take liberties with that line to emphasize kerashi !
This poem records a freak weather event!
Saturday, 1 August 2015
WHITE WAKA ONE
#white #waka #tanka #hyakuninisshu
The most common color adjective in the famous #HyakuninIsshu anthology is white. Yes I went and counted. The next most common are red and black.
I counted 7 using shiro or shira or shirotae.
There are a couple of more that use phrases and verbs that could be translated as white or whiten.
Poem 2 about seeing a mountain still snow capped at the beginning of summer
shiro tae no white sleeves / robes
Poem 4 being seeing snow on Fuji also uses shirotae
Poem 6 refers to white frost shiro ki
Poem 29 compares and links heavy frost to whiteness and white chrysantheums shiragiku
Poem 31 compares light reflecting off a heavy fall of white snow to moonlight
yoshino no sato ni fureru shira yuki
Poem 37 shira tsuyu white dewdrops compared to jewels
Poem 76 compares clouds and waves
kumoi ni magoo okitsu shira nami
I'll be translating a few or all of these over the next few weeks !
The most common color adjective in the famous #HyakuninIsshu anthology is white. Yes I went and counted. The next most common are red and black.
I counted 7 using shiro or shira or shirotae.
There are a couple of more that use phrases and verbs that could be translated as white or whiten.
Poem 2 about seeing a mountain still snow capped at the beginning of summer
shiro tae no white sleeves / robes
Poem 4 being seeing snow on Fuji also uses shirotae
Poem 6 refers to white frost shiro ki
Poem 29 compares and links heavy frost to whiteness and white chrysantheums shiragiku
Poem 31 compares light reflecting off a heavy fall of white snow to moonlight
yoshino no sato ni fureru shira yuki
Poem 37 shira tsuyu white dewdrops compared to jewels
Poem 76 compares clouds and waves
kumoi ni magoo okitsu shira nami
I'll be translating a few or all of these over the next few weeks !
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