For breakfast I eat up my vowels, my a e i o u, to which I add from consonants a fricative or two;
After that I move my bowels then write as poets do, and frequently am quite surprised to feel a trill come through.

Saturday, 7 April 2012

One hundred poems, one hundred poets. #3

Tiresome mountain trail
of the copper pheasant's tail, 
its long trailing tail,
how much longer is this night
I must also sleep alone?



Folkloric Background


In Japanese folklore mountain fowl are said to sleep alone, with pairs seperated at night on opposite slopes of the mountainside - hence the poets reference to himself sleeping alone 'also/too'.

あしびきの 
山鳥の尾の 
しだり尾の 
ながながし夜を 
ひとりかもねむ 


Kakinomoto Hitomaro


Romaji & crib:


ashibiki no (pillow-word modifier of mountain, peak)
foot/leg drag | of
yamadori no o no 
mountain fowl |of | tail | of
shidari o no 
drooping/trailing | tail | of
naganagashi yo o 
long, long so | night | acc. particle
hitori ka mo nemu
alone | do | also | sleep

Monday, 2 April 2012

One hundred poems, one hundred poets. #2

The structure of classical Japanese Waka (Tanka)
5 lines/ku
31 ‘syllables’ (on)
s/l/s/l/l
Upper
Kami-
no-ku
shoku
ha
ru
si
gi
te


5
niku
na
tsu
ki
ta
ru
ra
shi
7
sanku
shi
ro
ta
e
no
Pivot  line
kakekotoba
5
Lower
Shim-no-ku
shiku
ko
ro
mo
ho
shi
ta
ri
7
kekku
a
ma
no
ka
gu
ya
ma
7

A phrase break (kugire)  after the 1st line/ku is called a shoku-gire, after the 2nd a niku-gire, etc. This poem breaks after the 2nd and 4th = 5/7, 5/7, 7.

Haru sugite natsu kitaru rashi. Shirotae no koromo hoshi-tari, Ama no Kaguyama.

A common prosodic pattern of classical waka.

haru
spring
koromo
Garments, clothing
sugite
過ぎて
passed
ama-no
天の
heavenly
natsu
summer
yama
mountain
Kitaru-rashi
夏来たるらし
Come(s), next, coming, came + suffix –rashi (it seems)
Kaga
香具
Name of mountain
Shiro-tae
白妙
White- (tae=bark fibre cloth – a common modifier of ‘white’ (pure, dazzling)
hoshi tari
ほしたり
To dry/air

春過ぎて
夏来たるらし
白妙の
衣ほしたり
天の香具山

持統天

I see spring has passed
and summer come, it appears:
delicate white robes
are being hung out to air,
on heavenly Mount Yaga.
Empress Jito

Friday, 30 March 2012

One hundred poems, one hundred poets. #1

the thatch is rough
and my sleeves are wet
with tears
in a makeshift hut of straw
from the rice fields of autumn

秋の田のかりほの庵の苫をあらみわが衣手は露にぬれつつ
Aki no ta no kario no io no toma o arami waga koromode wa tsuyu ni nure tsutsu

(Emperor Tenchi)

from autumn's rice field
a makeshift hut of straw
its thatch so rough 
the sleeves of my robe
are wet with tears

in autumn's rice fields
a makeshift hut for shelter
its thatch so coarse
the sleeves of my robe
are damp with dew

aki autumn
ta rice field, rice paddy, field
かりkari = harvested ears of rice
ho rice-sheaf or bundle
かりほ kari-ho = sheafs of the harvested rice/dried rice sheafs
Kario = temporary huts (of dried sheaf?)
toma rush matting/thatch
O = case particle (with adjective stem + suffix mi) = cause
あら ara = rough/coarse
-suffix mi, with case particle O = since, because
O ara-mi = since/because (the rush-mat/thatch is) rough/coarse
io, hut
--no  genitive post-particle
-Wa post-particle of nominative case, or separation of a phrase from the rest of a sentence.
わが waga = my, our
-wo post-particle of accusative case
Koromo garment; clothes; dressing
De hand
衣手 Koromode = sleeve
ぬれ nure = wet
つつ tsutsu = becoming, being, while;
tsuyu = dew, tears, expose,
ni = case particle (to, in, on, into, at)
Aki no ta no
autumn of rice fields of
Kariho no io no
Temporary hut of hut of
Toma o arami
Rush-mat/thatch rough because
Waga koromode wa
My sleeves
Tsuyu ni nure tsutsu
Dew/tears on wet becoming


Because the thatch/rush-mat of the makeshift/temporary hut in the rice field of autumn is rough, my sleeves are wet with dew/tears