Utamakura - Poetry Places

 

Kokeshi-bashi Bridge is a 91-meter long and 7.8-meter wide bridge, part of National Highway 457, which crosses the Matsu-kawa River. On both sides and at both ends of the bridge there are metal three-meter-high kokeshi dolls, made in 1971. Kokeshi are wooden dolls from the Tohoku region of Japan, and Togatta has its own style of kokeshi.

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Matsugawa

 

The milky waters

of the river of pines flow

over weirs and under

Kokeshi Bridge the milky

water flows south to the sea

 

• Martin Edmond

 

松川

 

堰越えの

流れ松川

乳白色

こけし橋下

南へ、海へ

 

• マーティン・エドモンド (訳・マユ)

 

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Plum rain on Matsukawa

Make it flow

With no words

Cross over

The dolls

Of Kokeshi Bridge

A secret smile

 

• Mayu

 

松川の梅雨

流れ、

言葉なく

こけし橋

渡り人形

密かな微笑み

 

• マユ

 

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17 heures

 

Retentissent sur le pont

Des nuages menaçants étendent leurs ombres

Le vent n’en finit plus d’ébouriffer mes cheveux

Ni l’eau de cette rivière de s’écouler sous mes pieds

Une pensée chasse l’autre

L’éclaircie m’enveloppe de sa lumière

Perpétuel est le Mouvement

• Antoine Malbaut

 

午後5時

 

橋の上

脅威の雲が影を落とす

風が髪をなびかせる

この川の水は足元を流れ

ひとつの思いが別の思いを追い

稲妻の光でに包まれる

永遠の動き

• アントン・マルボー 　(訳・マユ)

 

＊＊＊

 

せみのこえ

緑豊かな

ステージ場

• 渡邊崇

 

Cry of cicadas

With abundant greenery

Place for stage space

• 　― Watanabe Takashi (訳・マユ)

 

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Komainu are pairs of statues of lion-like creatures guarding shrines and temples. Often the pair are similar or identical, except that one of them has its mouth closed, and the other, open.

The types protecting the town Kattamine Shrine are in the Hajime, Izumo Kamaegata and the Gokoku styes. The Hajime komainu were made during the Edo period when komainu were not common. They lack three-dimensionality and look like frogs. It is thought that the stonemason and the priest were both ignorant, and they were built according to hearsay.

In fact, during the nineteenth century an edict had come from Edo instructing all temples and shrines to make komainu and many people throughout the land, not just in Togatta, were unsure as to what they should look like. This has led to the construction of a great variety of types.

The komainu of the Izumo Kamaegata have their buttocks high up and look as if they are about to attack. They are three dimensional and precisely built using kimachi stone from Izumo (present day Shimane Prefecture). Many were built during the Edo to Taisho periods, and spread around the country by kitamaebune, the northern bound trading boats. The Gokoku style komainu have thick limbs with puffed out chests.

 

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梅しごと

まだかと知り得

立つ雀

先を見ればや

社の狛犬

• 佐藤雅宣

 

Working the plums

Wanting to know when

Standing sparrows alight

Looking ahead I see

Towards the shrine Komainu

• Satoh Masanori (trans. Mayu)

 

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Hajime Komainu

A green dragon fly

with black tipped wings alights

upon the haunches

of a dog like a frog with

rows of sharp teeth and a snarl

• Martin Edmond

 

黄金の羽先の

緑のとんぼ

尖った歯、唸り声上げる

カエルのような

犬の腰に

降りる

• マーティン・エドモンド

 

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If We Are Hajme Koma Inu Sculptors

 

We are sculptors in Shrine Zao

If learn to conjecture a life because we got numb and confusing

 

Once upon a time the sculptor made a Shrine guard dog that turned out several centuries later to look more like a frog than a dog

 

We are sculptors in Shrine Zao

If touching things that are uncertain and then as if believing the suggestion

 

Once upon a time people read omens, recited prayers and communicated wisdom to the Beyond, preferring to ask rather than try

 

We are sculptors in Shrine Zao

If craving to joke but lacks humor, when life makes fun of us, we are no desire to laugh

 

Once upon a time the next generation visited and asked whether the face of an old era, dog really like a frog? Are puppies really as cute as tadpoles?

 

We can choose not to become sculptors in Shrine Zao.

If we make a peace with emptiness because knowledge will come to curious humans.

 

• Intan Anggita Pratiwie

 

 

もし私たちがハジメコマイヌの石工だったなら

 

私たちは蔵王の神社の石工

人生を推測することを学ぶなら、しびれ、混乱するからこそ

その昔、石工は神社の番犬を作ったが

数世紀、いうよりカエルに似ていることが判明

私たちは蔵王の神社の石工

その暗示を信じるかのように、不確かなものに触れては

知恵をあの世へ、祈りを唱え、人々はお告げを読みとり、その昔に伝えた

私たちは蔵王の神社の石工

冗談を言いたくてもユーモアがなければ

人生から馬鹿にされても笑う気にはならない

犬は本当に、古い時代の顔、次の世代が訪ねてきて、

昔々子犬は本当にオタマジャクシのよう?カエルのよう?　かわいい？

蔵王の神社の石工にならないという選択もある

好奇心旺盛な人間たちに、もし私たちが虚無と和解すれば

知識がもたらされるかもしれない

-インタン・アンギッタ・プラティウィ　（訳・マユ）

 

The Zao Daigongen Otorii is a large torii gate situated near the intersection of Routes 457 and 12, where the Zao Echo Line begins. Next to this torii gate is an unnamed bridge that runs over the Nigori-kawa River. The water from Nigori-kawa comes directly from the Okama crater, and the minerals make this river look opaque and also make it uninhabitable for fish.

On the parkland between the Otorii and the bridge is a kahi or song monument in memory of poet Kagawa Susumu (1910-1998), who visited and wrote about Zao. This is the only stone monument with a poem inscribed on it that the artists found during their two-week stay.

The artists recommend that this monument be included in tourist brochures and that other poetry monuments be built on this site.

 

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蝉の声

蔵王を仰ぎし

大鳥居

• 佐藤京子

 

Call of cicadas

Gazing up towards Zao

Otorii

• Satoh Kyoko (trans. Mayu)

 

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文月の

沢音聞こえゆる

大鳥居

• 佐藤京子

 

In the July moon

Listening to river sounds

Otorii

• Satoh Kyoko (trans. Mayu)

 

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濁川

蔵王にそびえる

佇まい

心惹かれて

我勇み足

• 永井京花

 

Nigori-kawa

Towering over Zao

Just by standing there

My heart is moved and pulled

I’m carried away and lost

• Nagai Kyoka (trans. Mayu)

 

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Nigorigawa

 

By the cloud river

half hidden among the weeds

both sides of the road

we are metal kokeshi

rusting silently away

• Martin Edmond

 

濁川

 

雲川のほとりに

雑草に半隠れ

道の両わきに

我らは金属こけし

静かに錆びる

• マーティン・エドモンド　（訳・マユ）

 

 

 

Zao is short for the Zao Mountain Range, which is part of the larger Ou Mountain Range. The mountains seen from the Miyagi Prefecture side of the ranges are, left to right (south to north): Fubou-san (1705 meters), Minami, Byobu-dake (1810 meters), Byobu-dake (1825 meters), Ushiroeboshi-dake (1686 meters), Katta-dake (1758 meters), Kumano-dake (1841 meters) and Myogobo (1491 meters). On the other side of the ranges lies Yamagata Prefecture.

When esoteric Buddhism was combined with ancient mountain worship and Shugendo (mountain asceticism) was born, and ascetic practices were undertaken deep in the mountains, Zao was a place for such things to happen. The name Zao comes from Zao Gongen, a Buddhist statue that was enshrined on the mountain.

There are published poems about Zao. In the 2-week residency period, the artists have found in the Zao-machi Public Library:

• Zao no Uta (Tanka Shinbunsha 1988) by Sakuma Akira
• Zao no Yama by Otsuki Hirashichi in his collection Sarasoju (Tohoku Araragi Koriyama 1978)
• Two untitled tanka poems mentioning Zao by Matsuyuki Akira in Zao Tankasha Second Collection (Zao Tankasha, 2019)

 

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夏陽差す

見上げる先に

蔵王山

• 和心

 

The summer rays fall

Seeing above and ahead

Zao Mountains

• Washin (trans. Mayu)

 

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Strange Summer

 

Humans have the option to walk far.

I chose to stop at a place that is 4,800 km from my house. Without looking at the map, without knowing exactly where this is.

Here the mountains Zao Ranger looks at me boldly, say; “stay here, as long as you want.”

It turns out that this place is also home to me.

Bringing of childhood memories, rice field, hills and mountains surround the valley.

We also don’t have time to complain because the hot or rain it feels good.

The sun came up earlier than usual I know. He told me to enjoy the morning longer. Time is running slow. Longing was scattered among the Ajisai flowers which were still wet after last night’s rain.

The sun came up earlier than usual I know. But people in Zao take a late shower because the onsen only opens at 10.

Togatta is full of sounds of nature, occasionally I meet humans. Maybe no more than five people a day. The others have left, maybe they can’t stand it, it’s too quiet here.

I tried to make poems while looking at the green scenery. But this village moves slowly, words come but it’s hard for me to write quickly, as slowly as I wait for the Michelin Soba shop which is open only on weekends.

I gazed up at the Zao Mountains before going to bed, laying down in a bath where it was dark enough that I could see the stars in an unpolluted sky.

Humans have the option to walk far.

I chose to stop at a place that is 4,800 km from my house. Without knowing what is here and who will meet me. Everything is outlandish. But warm.

It turns out that I and myself inside, love alienation.

Because here the wind bring drizzle, say; “stay here, as long as you want.” She imitate the mountains to me. It’s as if she knows I miss my family, but is maze because here is the end; peace.

Humans have the option to walk far.

Do you choose to stop at a place far from your home?

• Intan Anggita Pratiwie

 

不思議な夏

 

人間には遠くまで歩くという選択肢がある。

私は自宅から4800キロ離れた場所に立ち寄ることにした。地図も見ず、ここがどこかもよく知らずに。

ここで蔵王連山が大胆にも私を見て言った。「ここにいろ、好きなだけいろ 」と。

ここは私にとって故郷でもある。

幼い頃の思い出の田んぼ、丘、山が谷を取り囲んでいる。

暑かろうが雨が降ろうが、気持ちいいから文句を言う暇もない。

太陽はいつもより早く昇った。朝をもっと長く楽しめって。時間はゆっくり流れている。昨夜の雨でまだ濡れているあじさいの花の中に、憧れの花が散っていた。

日が昇るのがいつもより早かったのは知っている。でも蔵王の人たちは遅い時間にシャワーを浴びる。

遠刈田温泉は自然の音に満ちている。1日に5人くらいかな。他の人たちは帰ってしまった。ここは静かすぎるから、耐えられないのかもしれない。

私は緑の景色を見ながら詩を作ろうとした。しかし、この村の動きはゆっくりだ。言葉は出てくるが、素早く書くのは難しい。週末しか営業していないミシュラン蕎麦屋を待つのと同じくらいゆっくりだ。

寝る前に蔵王の山々を見上げ、汚染されていない空の星が見えるほど暗い風呂に横になった。

人間には遠くまで歩くという選択肢がある。

私は自宅から4800キロ離れた場所に立ち寄ることにした。ここに何があるのか、誰が出迎えてくれるのかも知らずに。すべてが突飛だ。でも温かい。

私は、そして私自身も、疎外感を愛していることがわかった。

なぜなら、ここでは風が霧雨を運んでくるからだ。彼女は私に山の真似をする。まるで、私が家族を恋しがっていることを知っているかのように。

人間には遠くまで歩く選択肢がある。

あなたは家から遠く離れた場所で立ち止まることを選びますか？

• インタン・アンギッタ・プラティウィ　（訳・マユ）

 

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Kuma

Hot spring water flows

with a strong mineral smell

down Zao Mountain

and right past our open door

through which no bear has yet come

• Martin Edmond

 

熊

温泉は流れる

強烈なミネラル臭と共に

蔵王山を下り

開けっ放しの玄関前を流れるが

熊はまだ来ない

• マーティン・エドモンド　（訳・マユ）

 

 

 

Aoso-san (799 meters) is an independent old bipyramid volcano on the eastern side of the Zao Mountain Range, southeast of the central Togatta Onsen district. It has several peaks, including the Akera peak to the west is 10 m higher than elsewhere on Aoso-san.

It is said that in the Nara and Heian periods, the mountain was called Okatta, and was worshipped to calm the eruption of Zao’s Katta-dake Ridge. Aoso Shrine was built on the summit of the mountain in the late Edo period (1603-1868), and religious mountaineering by ascetic practitioners was popular by the end of the Edo period.

Kattamine Shrine, which is now in Togatta Onsen and on the top of Katta-dake was said to be once on Aoso-san. Yakushi-do Temple still stands about third of the way up the mountain, protected by local villagers.

Many Jomon period remains are found on the foothills of this mountain, especially on the eastern foothills. Kitaharao pioneer’s resettlement district is on the western foothills of Aoso-san.

There are published poems about Aoso-san. The artists found during the 2-week residency at the Zao-machi Public Library:

• Aoso no Yama by Endo Tadashi from his collection Shima Aoki Chizu (Hiiragi Shobo, 2016)
• Aoso-san by Yasobe Tokio from his collection Yukuefumei no Kajintachi (Shigaku-sha, 1991)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Yakushido

A cicada caught

in a yellow spider web

shall I set it free?

• Martin Edmond

 

薬師堂にて

黄色のクモの巣に

蝉がひっかかっている

自由にさせようか

• マーティン・エドモンド　（訳・マユ）

 

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青麻山

飄々と

暗闇に潜む

獣たち

今宵も始まる

愉快な祭祀

-永井京花

 

Aoso-san

Aloof, transcending

And lurking in the darkness

The beasts, once again

Tonight, another joyful

Ritual festivities

-Nagai Kyoka  (trans. Mayu)

 

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Dream of Aoso-san

 

On the night I arrived, I dreamed of Aoso-san

towering under the indigo sky.

From the direction of Sirius,

a falling star descended to its summit,

hovered, and landed without a sound.

Cedar trees began to sway,

beeches rustled and magnolias clapped

uneven beats to a strange tune,

high in pitch of a slender flute,

low in sound of secret singing:

 

I am

since the beginning of beginnings.

Longer than anyone remembers,

when my name was Okatta-dake

and even before, when my name was

never uttered.

I endure the burden of pylons

to light, warm and cool,

and cutting of trees, and planting of trees

for shrines and temples

built, worshiped, and moved.

Since the beginning of beginnings.

I am.

 

In the morning I wrote a poem

and asked the fallen star to take me to the temple.

Deep in the woods of Aoso-san

protected by families since antiquity,

a thin man with big ears guided me

up moss-covered step stones

to Yakushi-do, medicine teachers’ temple.

 

The slash line was at her edge.

Hands together, I speak my dream.

 

• Mayu

 

 

青麻山の夢

 

到着した晩、藍色の空の下に

そびえ立つ青麻山の夢を見た。

シリウスの方角から

流れ星が山頂に降りて、

漂い、音もなく着地した。

杉の木が揺れ始め、

ブナはざわめき、モクレンは拍子を

不規則に打ち鳴らし、奇妙な曲を奏でる

細い笛のような甲高い音色

秘密のささやきのような低い歌声：

 

おらほの

昔の昔から

誰も覚えとらん昔っから、

おがった山と呼ばれたころから

その前もおらが名前を

誰も云わねかったころから、

灯り、あっため、涼んで

鉄塔の重荷に耐えて

木、切ったり、木、植えたり、

神社や寺の柱に

なったり、祀られたり、移ったり

昔の昔から

おらはここにいる。

 

朝、青麻山の詩を詠んだ。

降る星に寺に連れたいと頼んだ。

青い森の奥深く

古くから守ってきた家の

耳の大きな痩せた男が

案内をしてくれた。

苔に覆われた踏み石を登り

薬師堂へと。

 

そこは切り裂き線の縁ぎわだった。

手を合わせ、夢を伝えると誓った。

 

• マユ

 

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Haiku

for Mayu

Utamakura:

the pillow of snow on top

of Aoso-san

• Martin Edmond

 

マユのための句

歌枕：

雪の敷妙

青麻山

• マーティン・エドモンド　（訳・マユ）

 

 

 

 

Kitaharao is a dairy farming village, pioneered by people who once lived in what is now the Republic of Palau in the South Pacific; they were resettled here after World War II. Palau had become a Japanese colony in 1920, as part of the South Seas Mandate, which was a League of Nations initiative following World War I granting German colonies in the South Pacific to the Empire of Japan. Kita means north, and harao was chosen by the settlers because its phonetic similarity with Palau.

On its western foothills, where the road to Aoso-san meets Route 457, there are three monuments. One for the spirit of Kitaharao pioneers, another for the spirit of cows, and one commemorating the visit of the then Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko in 2015. The Emperor and Empress visited this area to pay their respects to the pioneers.

The poet Izumi Yukihisa (1936-1972), who was from Palau, settled in Kitaharao after the war, working as a farmer as well as helping a kokeshi maker and driving a taxi in town.

The artists recommend a poetry stone monument with one of Izumi’s poems on it be built next to the other monuments.

 

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血のにじむ

苦労で開きし

北原尾

• 佐藤京子

 

Bleeding through and out

Pioneered with hardships

Kitaharao

• Satoh Kyoko

 

 

＊＊＊

 

 

Song of Kitaharao

 

On the slopes of Aoso-san

in a green place where once

an Emperor and his consort came

we remember the Pacific

Island which was our home

 

We remember the streets of Koror

& the palms of Babeldaob

the katsuo leaping

out beyond the reef

the sound of surf on the sand

 

Here on Aosa-san

we made another home

in a green valley where steam

rises out of the ground

& ancient people lived

 

Among bears and wild boars

& vipers women milk

& cows graze in the fields

we have made another home

on the slopes of Aoso-san

 

• Martin Edmond

 

 

北原尾の歌

 

青麻山の緑の斜面に

かつて天皇と妃が

訪れ、太平洋を忘れない

故郷だった島

 

コロールの街の想い出と

バベルダオブのヤシの木と

鰹が飛ぶ

リーフの向こうに

砂浜の波の音を聴く

 

ここ青麻山で

もうひとつの故郷

湯気が立ち上る緑の谷に

古代の人々が暮らした

 

熊と猪と毒蛇との

乳を酌む女集

牛は野原で草を食む

もうひとつの故郷を

青草山の斜面に創った

 

• マーティン・エドモンド　（訳・マユ）

 

 

Togatta Onsen Bus Stop services three bus routes. The Togatta Line operated by Miyako Bus Company, which runs between Miyagi Zao Royal Hotel in Togatta and the Shiroishi Zao Shinkansen train station in Shiroishi, stopping at 38 stops in between; the Okawahara Line, also operated by Miyako Bus Company, runs between Miyagi Royal Hotel and Okawahara Station and stops at 41 stops in between; and the Sendai-Zao Line operated by Miyagi Kotsu Company, which runs between Miyagi Royal Hotel and Sendai, and stops at 9 stops in between. There is a poem by Sendai born poet Miura Mai on the wall of machiaijo, a gallery by the Togatta Onsen Yu-no- Machi Bus Stop on the northern side of the street. This is where buses leave Togatta to go to out to the wider world. Machiaijo means waiting room, and this gallery looks like a bus shelter.

幾千の

歴史見届けし (ドラマ見届けし）

Bus Room（バスルーム）

• 佐藤京子

 

Thousands of dramas

History now overseen

Bus Room

• Satoh Kyoko (trans Mayu)

 

＊＊＊

 

The Togatta Bus Stop

 

You can take a bus

to the mountains or the sea

or you can go west

to Aoso-san and meet

Dogu on Matsukawa

 

They will tell you this:

sit always with a straight back

yet bend with the wind

the mountains will watch over you

the river flows to the sea

 

• Martin Edmond

 

 

遠刈田のバス停

 

バスに乗って

山や海へ行くことも

西の青曽山まで行って

松川で土偶と

出会うこともある

 

彼らは教えてくれる：

背筋を伸ばして座れ

風に吹かれて曲がれ

山が見守ってくれる

川は海へと流れる

 

• マーティン・エドモンド　（訳・マユ）