Haiku(”o‹å) by Tamotsu Yuba and English Poems based on its Haiku by Thackery

Autumn, 1997

(1)A ground and polished rock

For a thousand years or more,
Water has been falling down,
Deep into the valley,
From the forest.

Now, on the river bank,
Watching the ground and polished rock.
Feeling the history,
Which has passed through numerous autumns.

(2)Still far beyond the success

On the twentieth day,
I saw the waning moon,
In the sky.

Guiding me to recollect myself,
And realize,
Still far beyond the success,
Dreamt in the past.

No way to keep us from,
Getting old.

(3)Asuka Buddha

Asuka Buddha.
Now,
Looking back on the history.

How many people,
Have bled,
To fight for their righteousness.

Now,
On the ground,
Manjusaka is blooming,
In scarlet.
As if people's blood,
Absorbed into its red colour.
And just wishing that peace would come to us.

(4)Where has pride gone?

What a pity,
It is!
No spirits,
No hope.

Where has pride gone,
As a soldier,
Of great dignity?

Seems the war,
Crushed everything,
Even the lowest level,
Of a soldier's spirits,
Forever.

(5)Transmigration of the soul

Going up and down,
In our life,
Is a natural phenomenon.

Such circulation,
Happy or unhappy,
Is repeated every moment.

The same repetition,
Generation after generation,
Is our life,
Called,
As the transmigration of the soul.

New Year, 1998

(6)A mirror of Sun God

At the very beginning of this year,
A mirror of Sun God,
Found from an ancient tomb.

A good omen,
To tell,
Something beautiful is happening,
Guiding us from the darkness to the bright world.

(7)A cherry blossom, blooming against the cold wind

Bankruptcy,
Storming in the world.

A cherry blossom,
Blooming against the cold wind,
Struck my mind, and encouraged me to survive.

(8)Console over my friend's death

On the day,
When a cold winter started,
Joined mourners' line,
With a stony face,
To console over my friend's death.

(9)The dead solitary

Through doors' slight openings,
A draft is blowing,
With a groaning sound.

Accelerating the dead solitary,
Nobody there.
Only loneliness,
Ever.

(10)Rice gruel mixed with seven kinds of shepherd's purse

On January 7,
We usually take rice gruel,
Mixed with seven kinds of shepherd's purse.

On that day,
Ten years ago,
Showa Emperor,
Passed away.

We remember hard and poor days,
Close to death,
When it comes around,
Every year.

Spring, 1998

(11)A Japanese nightingale's singing for the first time this year

On a melancholy day in Spring,
A Japanese nightingale sang merrily,
Close to my ears.
For the first time this year.

Nature's power is great,
Making us notice the meaning of life,
Being bred,
Generation after generation.

(12)A white cucumber tree

On a sunny day in Spring,
A ridge line melted into a sky,
Like a airplane's white trail.

On the ground,
A white cucumber tree is blooming,
Peacefully and elegantly.

(13)The battlefield in the past

The battlefield in the past,
After a long time has passed,
Now changed into a peaceful one.

Smiling to people,
Like a fatherland,
To tell a human history.

(14)On St Valentine's Day

On St Valentine's Day,
Every man and woman in Japan,
Exchange a box of chocolates,
Whatever their religion.

Even I,
A Buddhist,
Having been given one.

(15)Weeping over such a miserable reality

A Japanese mind,
Having been able to sacrifice itself to the truth,
With a pure mentality,
Now has been lost.

How sad it is!
A beautiful flower,
Blooming on the ground,
Weeping over such a miserable reality.