liquid and solid

注がれてグラスの底の湾曲に沿いてワインは一瞬舞えり 三井　修

Being poured into a glass

wine was cuddling

along the curve

of the bottom

and showed its momentary dance　　
Osamu　Mitsui

This moment is a grand occasion for wine waking up after its long slumber of fermentation.

Osamu Mitsui(1948～） depicted the moment patiently
reducing his vocabulary, and captured it as if wine had its own life.

As I wrote in the previous post, Tanka was the last thirty-one syllables of longer waka, called Chouka, in ancient times.

After Meiji (1868～）era had begun, Tanka tried to form its genre according to the new regime as many other genre of arts tried to do so, absorbing eagerly western culture and arts.

And, the verse with thirty-one syllables(5,7,5,7,7) for Japanese started to be called Tanka, including the meaning of "modern tanka", independently from the ancient ones as representative verse of "waka"(Japanese song) .

角砂糖ガラスの壜に詰めゆくにいかに詰めても隙間が残る 香川　ヒサ

I put sugar cubes

one by one

in a glass bottle

and I find some space between them

whatever way I may try to use 　　
　Hisa Kagawa

Into many Tanka poems by Hisa Kagawa（１９４７～）, her ideas are poured.

The two substance, sugar cube and the container are both useful.
And still there are something as they do not permit the presence of the other party.
Her small plain-speaking might go for other cases.

The two of them by contemporary tanka poets are written being based on their troves out of a whim in their dairy lives, on aqueous fluid and on solid substance.
Then, gaseous matter?
It already has been contained in the both of them, hasn't it?

plants in Man’yō-shū

Man' yo Botanical Garden(Man'yo shokubutuen) is located close together with Casuga Grand Shrine( Casuga-Tasha). There various plants from ancient times, especially sung in the verses for Man’yō-shū,The Anthology of Myriad (Ten Thousand) Leaves(750), can be observed, and visitors can enjoy a variety of  seasonable plants and flowers.

Many plants are lined with tiles on each of them Tanka poem, any botany is sung in it, is written.

Sort of iris are in full flourish.

Hydrangeas  wacropylla originated in Japan are bloomimg in a quiet air

Some plants used to have different names from those of current, for example....

  　　　　


　冬ごもり　春去り来れば　鳴かざりし　鳥も来鳴きぬ　咲かざりし　花も咲けれど　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　山を茂（し）み入りても取らず　草深み　取りても見ず、、、
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　額田王

When spring comes,

bursting winter's bonds,

birds that were still

come out crying

and flowers that lay unopening

split into blossoms.

But, the hillsides being overgrown,

I may go among the foliage

yet cannot pick those flowers.

The grass being rank,

I may pick

yet cannot examine them...Nukata-no-Ohkimi
( translated by Hideo Levy)

Man’yō-shū complies many Chouka( literally long song with 7,5,7,5,7,5...7,7 syllables for Japanese), as well as Tanka that was from the last phrase 5,7,5,7,7(literally short song).

According to some expressions in verses,we can see in what manner flowers and plants used to be appreciated by ancient people. Picking and examining them were quite important for them to admire any plant.

春の日に　張れる柳を　取り持ちて　見れば都の　大路思ほゆ
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　大伴家持

　

As I break off and admire

a branch of the willow

swelling large on a spring day,

my mind turns

to the broad avenues of the capital
(Ohtomo-no-Yakamochi)(translated by Hideo Levy)

Thinking of the way of ancient people, I looked at the willow trees along Sarusawa pond.

Spider's thread

When I stood beneath a tree for shade, I felt like I was enveloped with a verdure space.

曇り日の大樹の下のうす青く　われに届かぬ蜘蛛の糸垂る

I'm standing beneath the boughs

in a wispy green space,

A thread of a spider

from a bough

is too short for me to reach
(haricot)

Recently, after long time, I visited Byōdō-in in Uji city in Kyoto prefecture. The architecture is famous for the design of 10yen coin, and was built by one of the most powerful member of Fujiwara clan as a villa, and was changed to a Buddhist temple by Fujiwara no Yorimich in 1052, as a Pure Land.

I was attracted by the design of the main building, Phoenix Hall, while I'm captivated by the pond called Aji-ike(阿字池）, especially nearby the right wing of the Hall.

The pond reminds me of a tale, The spider's Thread「蜘蛛の糸」, by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (芥川　龍之介）. At the beginning of the tale, Buddha was meandering around in Paradise and looked down upon the depth of a pond and found a criminal, Kandata.Buddha lowered a thread of a spider for him who did not kill a spider which he scarcely crushed. (the plot is here)

Byōdō-in is located near the wealth of water, Uji-river, the source of it is Biwa-lake.

Strolling along the river that flows with passage of time, I felt as if it ware a brief dream that I was in  the tranquil atmosphere of Byōdō-in a little while ago, this world and another one were mingled there.



On my way to go back I saw various white- tinged flowers.
They were blooming in each stage of their lives.