|
This pine tree by the rock
must have its memories too:
after a thousand years,
see how its branches
lean towards the ground
Izumi Shikibu
When my desire
grows too fierce
I wear my bed clothes
inside out,
dark as the night's rough husk
Ono no Komachi
Over a millennium ago, in Japan's imperial Heian Court, female poets had a
voice and could establish a reputation for themselves in literary circles. It
was a culture that valued the arts, the antithesis of present day America where
sports overshadow the arts in its public school system and a scant selection of
poetry books sit like wallflowers on lone shelves in the backs of shopping mall
bookstores. Says Jane Hirshfield, "The aristocratic culture of the Heian
court proved to be a uniquely auspicious environment for women writers for
several reasons, but foremost is the central role of the arts in the conduct of
daily life."
Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu were pivotal figures during Japan's Heian Age
(795-1185) whose contributions to waka (tanka) cannot be underestimated. Say's
Hirshfield, "Komachi and Shikibu stand out as two of the greatest poets in
an age of greatness not simply because they achieved technical virtuosity in
their chosen form, the thirty-one syllable tanka verse, but because they used this
form as a medium of reflection and introspection---Each confronted her experience
with a directness and honesty unusual in any age."
A poet in her own right, Jane Hirshfield, with the help of Mariko Aratani,
translated into the English language The
Ink Dark Moon, a collection of love poems by Komachi and Shikibu, most of
which, until this publication, with few exceptions, have not been available to
English readers. This book, therefore, is an important contribution that
broadens our understanding of the tanka genre and gives us new insight into
life as lived during the Heian Era, considered by many scholars as a golden age
for Japanese poetry and literature. Fortunately for us, Hirshfield, assisted by
Aratani, gives readers translations that are readily understood and deeply
felt.
Take, for instance:
I know it must be this way
in the waking world,
but how cruel ---
even in my dreams
we hide from others' eyes
Ono no Komachi
Translated by Hirschfield and Aratani
Compare Hirshfield's translation above with this recent treatment of the same
poem, translated by Edwin Cranston in A
Waka Anthology: Grasses of Remembrance,
Volume 1:
In the waking world
Such caution may be well advised,
But even in dreams
To see him watching others' eyes ---
This is wretchedness itself!
Cranston, although an important scholar and translator, does not claim to be a
poet. Says Cranston: "By filtering the warm wash of classical Japanese
prosody, Hirshfield and Aratani have arrived at seemingly effortless
transparencies. . . . I have looked at many translations of these poets, but
few or none as fine as these."
Another example:
This body
grown fragile, floating,
a reed cut from its roots . . .
If a stream would ask me
to follow, I'd go, I think.
Ono no Komachi
Translated by Hirschfield and Aratani
I like what translator/poet Amelia Fielden says (in the Introduction to the
translation for On The Same Star by
Mariko Kitakubo) about translating tanka into the English language:
"I consider that the function of the translator is to convey to the reader
the closest possible sense of the tanka as it was composed . . ."
Professor Donald Keene of Columbia University reiterates in his book Seeds in The Heart, " . . . I have
always gone back to the original texts to make sure that the translations
conveyed the sense of the original; when they did not, I retranslated."
Translating a poem is more than conveying what was being said with words; it
also includes what was being said with the poem's natural rhythm.
Says Hirshfield:
"Anyone who attempts that impossible task, the translation of poetry, must
at some point wonder what exactly a poem might be, if not its own body of
words. For surely, all can attest who have made the hard and joyous effort to
write a poem of their own, poetry dwells in words: absolutely particular in
meaning, irreplaceably individual in rhythm and sound . . . the act of
translation constitutes a leap of faith, a belief that somehow this part of a
poem that lives both through words and beyond words can be kept alive, can move
from its life in one verbal body to another."
The Ink Dark Moon makes an important
contribution to the English speaking poetic community. Hirshfield introduces us
to two of the foremost poets of the Heian Period, regardless of gender. Komachi
and Shikibu's waka are beautiful, emotionally evocative, lyrical, intelligent
and worthy of study. Their poetry is among the finest I have come across.
Izumi Shikibu was a complex human being. She was deeply religious yet equally
passionate. Periodically, she spent time in Buddhist monasteries and once
contemplated becoming a nun. She was not, however, one to deny her femininity,
and when she loved a man, it was with every ounce of her being. She had more
than one extramarital affair during her lifetime which made her the subject of
ostracism and scandal, and caused her to be disowned by her family. While
married to a non-high ranking Lord, she fell in love with the Empress' son. A
year after the Prince passed away, she had an affair with the Prince's married
brother, Atsumichi. This too caused a scandal, lighting the fires of Court
gossip. The Prince's wife left him. He and Shikibu lived together for five
years until the Prince died from a contagious disease during an epidemic. Her
love for the Prince was very deep. According to Hirshfield, Shikibu went into a
period of intense mourning "in which she wrote over 240 poems to her
departed lover."
Remembering you . . .
The fireflies of this marsh
seem like sparks
that rise
from my body's longing.
Izumi Shikibu
This waka was one of the aforementioned
240 poems. Shikibu saw fireflies hovering above a marsh one evening that
reminded her of the longing she felt for her deceased lover. Japanese waka is
set with its 5/7/5/7/7 metre and divided into five segments via intonation.
With limited space, a tanka poet aims for the heart of whatever it is he is
writing about, shooting for its essence.
The lyricism in this waka adds to its emotional content, causing it to
resonate. Likewise, the imagery used in the poem, the juxtaposition between
remembering someone and the fireflies "like sparks that rise from my
body's longing," is evocative, creating a vivid picture accessible to more
than one of the senses.
I fell in love with tanka via reading waka like those contained in The Ink Dark Moon. Japan gave us the
genre. It is an important part of its culture, a poetic form practiced and
celebrated for over a thousand years. There are some in the English
language tanka world who have mastered the genre technically, though their
output at times lacks depth, emotion, and lyricism. They look to modern poets
immersed in Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and others of like style for
their inspiration, diluting their connection to the source and breadth of this
Japanese literary genre, composing what some claim to be an altogether
different genre, although labeled English Tanka. Jane Hirshfield 's
translations of Komachi and Shikibu's waka are some of the finest English
language translations in print. Studying their poetry has made me a better
poet.
Ono no Komachi was a legendary figure in the Heian Court. Says Hirshfield,
"Little is known about her life, and the stories about her freely
commingle historic fact and suppositions drawn from her poems. . . . Legends,
folk-tales, and songs add that Komachi was not only the outstanding poet of her
time but also the most beautiful and desirable of women. Also according to
legend, the renowned poet ended her life in anonymity, isolation, and poverty,
an ancient half-mad hag living outside the city walls, though still writing
poetry and possessing a deep understanding of Buddhist teachings."
In the preface to the Kokinshu, she was named as one of the "Six Poetic
Geniuses," the only woman so honored. We are fortunate to be exposed in The Ink Dark Moon to Komachi's waka,
since approximately only one hundred of her poems exist today. Says Donald
Keene, "The intensity of emotion expressed in Komachi's poetry not only
was without precedent but would rarely be encountered in later years. The
poetry of the Kokinshu was usually pitched in a lower key, and the ingenious
use of language was a mark not of overpowering emotion but a kind of
intellectuality. Komachi's poetry, however extravagant in expression, always
seems sincere."
Take for example:
No way to see him
on this moonless night ---
I lie awake longing, burning,
breasts racing fire,
heart in flames.
Ono no Komachi
Translated by Hirshfield and Aratani
Expounds Hirshfield, "This poem, one of Komachi's most famous, and the
most powerful example of her mastery of pivot words, possesses an intensity of
intermingling images quite impossible to convey in translation. The first
pivot-word is Tsuki, which means both 'moon' and 'way.' The night without a
moon is also a night without a way to see her lover; from this double reading
of one word emerges the image of a night so dark a man could not find his way
to her door. Much of the fire imagery of the rest of the poem also comes from
pivot-words, rising into the poem's meaning in much the way fire-light reaches
up into the darkness of a room where the poet lies awake, thinking of her
lover. . . the interplay between the blazing of her body and the image of a
small, sputtering brazier surrounded by the night's darkness creates in the
reader an awareness of the poem's intense subjectivity. Further we see the
flame of the poet's desire as the only waking activity in a world swallowed by
blackness---true cause for despair." Hirshfield's sensitive, faithful
translation of this poem, coupled with commentary, make this waka and the
others in The Ink Dark Moon
accessible, vibrant, and true to the author's intent.
Comments Hirshfield, "These two women, the first a pivotal figure who
became legendary in Japanese literary history, the second Japan's major woman
poet, illuminated certain areas of human experience with a beauty, truthfulness,
and compression unsurpassed in the literature of any other age."
|
