POST NO.1
I have been writing tanka [tahn-kah] poetry for more than thirty years. However, unlike most of today’s tanka poets I have focused on writing tanka in the traditional style used by poets prior to the later years of the Kamakura Shogunate period [1185-1333], when the traditional style of tanka gave way to haiku/haikai [5-7-5 syllable verse] and renga [rane-gah]—long poetry with 31 to as many as 100 stanzas the norm.
The end of the Meiji period in 1912 saw the emergence of so-called modern tanka, but I have continued to compose Kamakura era tanka and have published two anthologies—one in Japan and one in the United States. I have also contributed essays and tanka poetry in English and Japanese to weekly newspapers and monthly magazines for the past ten years, and both taught and mentored the composition of tanka poetry at a private school sponsored by a monthly poetry magazine.
Early this year (2010) I composed a flowing tanka in the traditional style on the theme Hikari [He-kah-ree] or “Light” on the occasion of this year’s annual Poetry Party at the Imperial Palace sponsored by Emperor Akihito.
On the morning of the first day of this New Year
I myself also watch the sun rising calmly
above in the eastern sky.
I recently came across the website of noted contemporary tanka poet Yoshihiro Kuromichi entitled “Tanka Lesson Room for Beginners by a Modern Poet.” I was delighted to discover that anyone could access the site and begin leaning how to compose tanka poetry without having to buy books, attend classes, or engage a mentor.
Up to this time it has been taken for granted that those wanting to learn how to write essays, poetry and other literary skills would pay for copyrighted books and teacher fees, but that is now changing. Until recently where were three large bookstores in the commuter train station near my home, now there is only one; a powerful testimony to the presence and power of the Internet. This transition to free access to books of all kinds is now being boosted to Google.Com, which offers the content of millions of books free of charge.
I believe this extraordinary transition to free information on the Internet, despite its early problems, will greatly benefit mankind, helping to bring all humanity in the world together as a family, making it possible for us to communicate directly with each other through poetry and other means.
I was so delighted when I discovered Kuromichi’s website that I composed an acrostic poem and sent it to him in a letter.
In my lifetime there have been four major figures who influenced my desire and efforts to master the composition of tanka. One of these individuals was the famous poet Akahiko Shimaki who composed the following tanka that was printed on one of the textbooks I bought when I was a junior high school student. Every time I read the poem it reminded me of the beautiful village where I spent my childhood.
Spring has already come
a bunting is singing a song merrily
upon a twig of a tall zelkova tree on a hill.
Another of the poets who inspired me was philosopher/professor Tsuyoshi Nara, who let me know that anybody could compose tanka as well as famous poets. I received a New Year’s card from him with the following tanka printed on it.
Although it is sure that I myself am brought up
by heaven and earth, at the same time I myself
encourage them without fail.
The third individual who has been my tanka mentor is Fumiko Reizei, president of Reizei Family group, the 26th descendant of Teika Fujiwara (1162-1241) who mastered the art of composing aesthetic tanka.
And the last one is pioneer poet Machi Tawara, who let us know that anybody
can compose tanka without an extensive learning period. After she published her tanka collection, which sold more than million copies, teachers began to allow students to compose tanka in school, even though it had not been permitted since World War II.
Despite the great contributions these four individuals had made to my life there remained a kind of mist or block that prevented me from being content with my efforts to inspire and teach people to write poetry. But as soon as I opened and read Kuromichi’s “Tanka Lesson Room for Beginners” website, this feeling vanished. I was reminded of the proverb, “The scales fall from one’s eyes.”
I was instantly struck with the thought that I had to release all of my lectures about composing traditional tanka on the Internet, just as Kuromichi was doing, and immediately wrote a letter to him suggesting that I translate his tanka into English so that millions of people all over the world could share his dream of uniting people through poetry.
Although my primary interest was and remains the traditional form of tanka I believe it behooves all poets to be open to other forms of poetry. I believe it is fundamental that poets should practice both tanka and renga forms of poetry in order to become a master poet.
A famous Meiji period poet, Ichiyo Higuchi, had composed many tanka poems before she published such famous works such as “Takekurabe.” And another author and dramatist of the Edo era [Tokugawa Shogunate period], Saikaku Ihara had also composed a lot of renga poetry at the Sumiyoshi shrine in Osaka prefecture before he published such famous works as “Koshoku-Ichidai-Otoko.”
As soon as I read some works of Yoshihiro Kuromichi, these two authors came up in my mind. Some of his linked tanka are works that describe interesting or exciting stories. At this time I am able to introduce only two tanka from the examples of ten of his poems that he sent me, along with their explanations.
But I think that the combination of these works symbolizes modern society in this world with many traditional techniques for tanka composition when I regard them as one work called “twin tanka.”
1) Does the kite I flew when I was seven years old
float up in the sky over the Gobi desert
which I now see in my dream?
2) What will I realize in my future, I wonder?
There must be pathways that I have built up on shore
but they have been washed away!
The supervisor of this project, author and Japanologist Boye Lafayette De Mente, commented that he understand this imagery clearly...and that it has deep meaning.
When most traditional tanka poets in Japan composed tanka in order to instill their own “spiritual aftertaste” of the world in their tanka, they used such techniques for tanka composition as Engo” or ‘a related word’ and “Tsuiku” or ‘antithesis.’ That is to say, each of them has a related word: Gobi desert and shore.
It has been said that as many as ten thousand years ago there was a great and prosperous city in Gobi desert. Part 2 of Kuromchi’s poem says that he has built pathways on the shore but they have been washed away. What does the word “pathways” symbolize, I wonder? Can you relate the image to modern society in this world, which is awash with many problems?
From now on I’m going to introduce Yoshihiro Kuromichi to English readers as the fifth person who has influenced me so much in my efforts to compose tanka and then to master it, since he prompted me to release all of my lectures about tanka composition under the traditional theory on my website for anyone who wants to learn how to compose tanka.
I hope my small effort to make his dream come true by introducing two of his tanka will be the first step in helping to create peace and goodwill among all of the people of the Earth, regardless of their race, religion, tribe, nationality or history.
_______________________________
As for the persona of poet Yoshihiro Kuromichi, he has chosen to remain something of a mystery. Born in 1974 in Nara Prefecture [the site of Japan’s capital from 710 to 784], Kuromich styles himself as a “playbot heretic,” lists his occupation as “word thief,” and his hobby as composing tanka.
He adds that he sometimes contributes tanka under the name of “Boss” to a radio program, is an avid coffee-drinker and reader of manga magazines, especially Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi, likes to be alone but is constantly with friends, and reflects deeply over what he does. His Japanese language websites are:
プラボットの異端児（短歌入門部屋）
黒路よしひろ
http://homepage3.nifty.com/PLABOT
黒路よしひろの現代短歌入門（英訳付）」
http://homepage3.nifty.com/PLABOT/kuromichi_tanka.html
万葉集入門
http://manyou.plabot.michikusa.jp/
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