Translation of Ten Japanese Haiku
Bosha Kawabata's Fiddlehead Haiku in Kanji and Romaji
Translation of Ten Japanese Haiku
Professor Minoru Fujita and I worked together on translating four Japanese haikuists from the original Japanese into English back in 1983. These poems have never appeared online but originally were published in Paintbrush: A Journal of Poetry, Translation and Letters (Spring&Autumn, 1983 issue). However, I am providing a copy of our worksheet for Bosha Kawabata's delightful poem "Fiddleheads" that did not appear in Paintbrush; it is hoped that this sample worksheet shows the process of translation effectively.
Bosha Kawabata: 3 Haiku:
A drop of dew;
an ant recedes from it
staggering
In glimmer of moon
scars of deep snow
cannot be hidden
Gentle fiddleheads
sprout like no characters
in earthly paradise
Seishi Yamaguchi: 2 Haiku
Even disappearing tip
of tail is still nothing
but a snake's body
What a crunching sound
praying mantis makes
with bee's head
Shuson Kato: 2 Haiku
Eyes of pheasant
shine forth brilliantly
while sold away
A frogfish
frozen to the bone
gets all chopped up
Hakyo Ishida : 3 Haiku
A grapefruit split open
bursts forth like joy,
its color and smell
For but an instant
setting sun transfigures
with gold a burnt land
Waiting for a bus,
I cannot doubt coming
of spring to wide boulevard
These four Japanese poets are all deceased. They lived in the early to mid-twentieth century. I first met Professor Fujita in 1981 when I taught American literature for one full year at Osaka University. He is an eminent Shakespeare scholar but loves contemporary Japanese haiku for its stark and surprising poignancy. He and I spent several months working on this translation. His English is at a much higher level than my Japanese but he respected the fact that I am a poet who wrote a collection of poems Bamboo in the Sun (1983) in a Japanese manner.
See also: http://hubpages.com/hub/A-New-Translation-of-An-Inca-Rain-Poem
Summary
Ideally, a translation from Japanese to English should be made by a team of two. One should be fluent in Japanese and proficient in English and the reverse for the other person. Both should be engrossed in the subject matter.
© 2010 Richard Francis Fleck