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Two Haiku Sequences by Sugita Hisajo

Translated by Eiko Yachimoto & Susan Stanford

     Sugita Hisajo (1890 – 1946) was one of the most acclaimed of the first generation of women haiku poets to publish Modern Haiku (gendai haiku) when publication opportunities became available to women from 1916. The following two sequences were written in 1934, when she was at the height of her powers. They transcend the major thrust of Modern Haiku, which encouraged sketching-from-life, to capture memories of what was at the time an exotic childhood. 
     The first sequence celebrates her birthplace of Kagoshima and her birth month of May. At the time of her birth, Japan was involved in a rapid transformation from a feudal society to a modern nation state, and her father, a bureaucrat, was stationed in Kagoshima, in the subtropical southern part of the island of Kyushu. 
     The second sequence recreates vivid moments from her early childhood in Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture--also known as the Ryukyu Island chain-- which divides the East China Sea from the Pacific Ocean. It was only ambiguously part of Japanese territory when formally annexed in 1879. Despite her position as a child of a colonist--her father was conducting a survey for taxation purposes--Hisajo and her older sister enjoyed considerable freedom to mix with both the Chinese and native Okinawans who lived there. Her experiences on this tropical island remained touchstones of happiness for her during her often lonely and tumultuous adult life. 
     The construction of the Okinawa sequence owes something to the tradition of linked poetry (renku), which became significantly marginalized by Modern Haiku. Renku encourages associational links and changes of perspective which we have tried to capture by the free switching of tense between past and present. The last haiku in the second sequence no longer centres on Okinawa but recalls her high school days, in which she looked to her future, in the context of earlier memories. It is possible that an encounter with an umi hōzuki, the egg sac of a spiral shell snail, was the trigger for the entire sequence. 
     Umi hōzuki, (sea hōzuki) take their name from hōzuki (the seed pods of Chinese lanterns) as both are used as whistles by children. The start of the school year is associated with the cherry blossoms for most Japanese readers, so the use of bead tree flowers evoke the particular flavour of Naha, just as the pomelo blossoms evoke Kagoshima.
​

The Kagoshima Sequence (6)

pomelos in flower
entering May
sunshine

朱欒咲く
五月となれば
日の光


zabon saku
gogatsu to nareba
hi no hikari


​pomelos in flower
the lapis lazuli
May sky

朱欒咲く
五月の空は
瑠璃のごと

zabon saku
gogatsu no sora wa
ruri no goto




​heavenly blue sky –
oranges bury our eaves 
in flowers

天碧し
盧橘は軒を
うづめ咲く
​

ten aoshi
rokitsu wa noki o
uzume saku
pomelo blossoms
spilling over our house where
living was joyful

花朱欒
こぼれ咲く戸に
住むは楽し

hana zabon
kobore saku to ni
sumu (wa) tanoshi


​wafting sweet breeze
who's come visiting our house
of pomelo blossoms?

風かほり
朱欒咲く戸を
訪ふは誰ぞ

kaze kaori
zabon saku to o
tou wa darezo






​in the sky above the blooming
pomelos of my birth month
a perfect pearl

朱欒咲く
我が誕生月の
空真珠

zabon saku
waga are tsuki no
sora matama


The Okinawa Sequence (11)

I grew up
bathing in the emerald sea
of summer everlasting

常夏の
蒼き潮あび
わが育つ

tokonatsu no
​aoki shio abi
waga sodatsu



​
little-girl-bob 
those days I crunched on
sugarcane

砂糖黍
かじりし頃の
童女髪


satṑkibi
​kajirishi koro no
dōjogami


with red impatiens 
dyeing each other's fingers 
love in childhood
​
爪ぐれに
指そめかはし
恋稚く

tsumagure ni
yubi somekawashi
koi wakaku


​
banyan cave
the child pit-viper catcher
lets me hold one

榕樹鹿毛
飯匙倩捕りの子と
遊びもつ

yoju kage
​habutori no ko to
asobi motsu
 



​bead tree blossoms

rained on Naha
when I started school

栴檀の
花散る那覇に
入学す

sen'dan no
​hana chiru Naha ni
nyūgakusu


​
stepping on starfish
tickling crabs
games on the rocky shore

ひとでふみ
蟹とたはむれ
磯あそび

hitode fumi
​kani to tawamure
iso asobi


with an island child
I suck sweet nectar from
banana flowers

島の子と
花芭蕉の
蜜の甘き吸ふ
​

shima no ko to
​hana bashō no mitsu no
amaki su'u


​
ringing out above
the purple blossom cloud
bouncing ball songs

紫の
雲の上なる
手毬唄

murasaki no
kumo no ue naru
temari uta
the instant the whistle 
is placed in my mouth 
the smell of the sea

海ほほづき
口に含めば
潮の香り


umi hōzuki
​kuchi ni fukumeba
shio no kaori
egg sac whistles
crowd tightly on driftwood
driven ashore

海ほほづき
流れよる木に
ひしと生え

umi hōzuki
nagare yoru ki ni
hishi to hae
as I blow the whistle 
I'm taken straight back to
my girlish dreams

海ほうづき
鳴らせば遠し
乙女の日


umihōzuki
naraseba tōshi
otome no hi
Eiko Yachimoto, born in Yokosuka city in 1947, is a renkujin who loves writing collaborative poetry with haijin from all parts of the world. Based on her experience with a great number of haijin who write in the English language, she believes that Hisajo's haiku with its lifeforce and human voice is effective in enriching the understanding of haiku.
Susan Stanford lives in Melbourne, Australia. She has been involved with English Language Haiku for some decades. Her PhD on Sugita Hisajo approached her work and life through the framework of innovation and constraint. 
Use and/or duplication of any content on White Enso is strictly prohibited without express and written permission from the author and/or owner.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Photos: Linda Gould
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