"Ferris Wheel -- 101 Modern and Contemporary tanka" , 2006, Cheng & Tsui (U.S.A.), edited and translated by Kozue Uzawa and Amelia Fielden
all written horizontally, including original text in Japanese, how to read original poem with roma-ji, and English translation. One poem in one page with the 3 styles. Preface bilingual. tanka writers' biography at the end of the book, bilingual also.
as an introduction I quote an translation:
ferris wheel,
go round and round!
memories last
one day for you
a lifetime for me ----Kyoko Kuriki
According to
Simply Haiku, unless the credit says that this book is co-translated, this is an anthology edited and translated by Professor Uzawa, Ms. Fielden only assisted Ms. Uzawa to make translations more natural as English poems.
The quoted tanka can be said that translation is successfully done to move original poem's rhythm into English. I quote other example, which is placed at the beginning of the book, masterpiece by Yukitsuna Sasaki.
like a child
making fresh, crispy sounds
you crunch celery sticks
I don't need a reason
to adore you ---- Yukitsuna Sasaki
on the last line, the word 'adore' is chosen as the translation of 'ai-suru', whose standard translation word is 'love'. This is closer in meaning and pronunciation also, good choice of word. And more, the sound [a] makes a rhythm with [a]s in the first line. Through 1st line to 3rd line, there occurs inversion to make the first line lighter than normal order of the translated sentence. And, according to the author Ms. Uzawa, [s]s and [k]s are frequently appears in the original poem, then she also tried to use them as frequent as possible in the translation.
More about contents. I quote from the Preface of Japanese version:
This book was made to introduce some of Japanese contemporary tanka to English readers.
Another quotation from the same Preface. How do you think :
These contemporary tankas are 101 selections from my notebook which I was moved, noted, and translated into English.
This book contains many historical masterpieces, much of variable emotional tankas, and easy to read. I cannot deny nowadays(accurately from the end of 19th century to 1990's) tankas like these are popular, favored and read by many(I mean majority) people. Easy-to-recite tankas are chosen, and translated very carefully. Each tankas' value are very precious. This is an anthology of tankas which have succeeded to show itself fascinating as "Me the special emotion's wet part of heart" ...
And mentioned above, this book is originated by Dr. Uzawa's personal notebook and completely under her preference. Though good books which is able to compete or compare with, This book is the only one which introduce Japanese tanka nowadays, to our regret.
I must mention the popular take-and-abandon-issue. Preface says that the author did not choose authors but works. Of course chosen tankas are masterpieces, easy to recite, good for beginners who have got interested in tanka just now, and good for those who prefer emotional and sweet poems, as I mentioned above. All the way, this is NOT all of japanese contemporary tanka, with flat viewpoint and the sight wide enough to see each wings, conservatives and avants-gardes.
But my worry may be needless. You can read English tanka readers' review on the web, they pay attention to this book is an anthology from Ms. Uzawa's tanka note; about tankas selected, easy to read, translate, and valuable reference to those who begin to write tanka in English by themselves. Some review also mentions that the tankas are 20th century's. In the world of English poetry, of course, there are many many styles, or ideologues, it is natural that poets who have discernment easily aware of the issue or problem.
In the Preface, contemporary tanka varies in styles, rhetorics, and themes. But how about tanka groups -- which has much relationship with ideology ?
Dr. Uzawa is a member of "Kokoro no hana" (which means flowers in your mind or mental flowers), origins Nobutsuna Sasaki, and now the group contains Machi Tawara, the world's famous tanka writer. I don't know our side is on the contrary or not, I am from "Mirai" (which means the future"), origins "Araragi" by Mokichi Saitoh and Bunmei Tsuchiya, and now there are Takashi Okai as a leader, Jiro Kato as one of most famous tanka writer.
Let us back to the anthology. There are one or two tankas included, poems as follows:
exhausted
from the police interrogation
I get home at midnight
my period starts
like rage
----Motoko Michiura
you say
you hate wars
you're right, right, right
but, then
what would YOU do?
----Michiyo Kuroki
About precise years that original tanka is published. it is not newer than the former part of 1990's. The following quotation is the head 2 and tail 2 of this book.
like a child
making fresh, crispy sounds
you crunch celery sticks
I don't need a reason
to adore you ---- Yukitsuna Sasaki (re-quotation)
on rainy branches
apricot buds
swelling into bloom
anxiously
as if waiting for love
---- Kazuhiko Ito
the mouse
which took brown sugar soap
from the bathroom
that night
must have been happy
---- Etsuko Tsunomiya
dear brother
don't forget this--
birds
flying through the sky
have heavy entrails
----Kazuhiko Ito
5 POETS ARE QUOTED 5 TANKAS. 101 tankas' writers are ONLY 55 .
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