Lonesome Poet, Wakayama Bokusui

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Education, Language, Literature
Lonesome Poet, Wakayama Bokusui

2021.08.4

tanka, 若山牧水, Japanese poet, tanka poem, lonesome, Japanese education, にほんご

Education, Language, Literature

White seagull
Isn’t he sad
Just floating
Not becoming one
With the blue sky
Nor the blue ocean
(Wakayama Bokusui)

白鳥は　
かなしからずや　
空の青　
海の青にも　
染まずただよふ
(若山牧水)

I studied this Tanka poem in junior high school Japanese class. Teacher asked me the meaning of the poem and I explained it. Still remember the moment vividly. The solitude not becoming one with the wide sky nor the vast ocean, and the lonesome heart was all alone. The wandering soul of Wakayama Bokusui (1885~1928) was carved onto my youthful heart.

この短歌を中学校の国語の授業で学び、先生にあてられて、この歌に込められた意味を解いた時のことを、今も鮮明に覚えています。空という大きなものにも、海という果てしないものにも染まりきれずに、一人孤独のうちにある寂しさ。漂泊する魂について、その寂しさが若山牧水 (1885~1928) という歌人の生涯を貫いたものとして、私の若い胸に刻まれました。

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokusui_Wakayama
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/若山牧水

You can learn about Tanka, Japanese poem here.
短歌の説明についてはこちら。

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanka
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/短歌

The other day, we had a summer trip to Miyazaki using holidays in July. Thick and dense mountains, and the beautiful and affluent blue river along them amazed me and touched me. Wakayama Bokusui memorial museum was a hidden treasure in the deep country.

先日、七月の連休を利用して宮崎へ夏旅をして来ました。深い鬱蒼とした雄大な山々と、その横を青く流れる水量豊かな川が胸を打つほど美しく、人里離れた辺境にある秘宝とでもいうべき地に、若山牧水記念文学館はありました。

https://www.bokusui.jp/museum/

The sound of water was overflowing in my ears, and cicadas buzzing and the sound of wind was surrounding the museum. I learned Bokusui was a pen name, Wakayama Shigeru was his real name. The pen name was combining his mother’s name Maki (it can be read as Boku) and water (Sui). Bokusui loved mother and water somewhere so deep all through his life.

眼前を流れる川のこぼれんばかりの水音と、蝉時雨と、風の音に包まれた記念文学館でのひと時。牧水は本名を若山繁と言い、雅号の牧水は母マキとこの生誕の地の豊かな水に因んでつけられた、ということを知りました。牧水にとって、母と水とは、その人生を通して深いところで愛し続けたものです。

I talked with the office manager and the clerk exchanging name cards and shared my project of ©︎ Aya’s Cool Japan Blog, promoting the charm of Japan to the world. Watched a video of Bokusui and his life, and saw the exhibition taking good time, also bought two books below.

事務局の方々と名刺交換をして、日本の魅力を世界に発信する ©︎ Aya’s Cool Japan Blog の活動を伝え、お話をさせて貰いました。また、牧水紹介のビデオを観て、展示をゆっくりと見て回り、著書も二冊買いました。

Bokusui made lots of Tanka composing sadness, loneliness, solitude, and sorrow. Those emotions were inseparable with his life and Bokusui endeavored to sublimate the inclination into Tanka. The helplessness of the wandering soul echoed through many people and his Tanka are loved in this day and age.

牧水の短歌には、悲しさ、寂しさ、孤独、寂寥感が詠まれたものが多い。それらは、牧水の人生において分かち難く結びつき、そのむべなる心を短歌へと昇華させて来ました。その漂泊する魂の遣る瀬無さこそが、多くの人々の心に響き渡り、今に伝わっています。

From the book of Bokusui’s Life written by Shiotsuki Giichi
“When little, he had lots of cavities and it tortured him. When crying desperately with the ache, his mother cried together holding Bokusui on her lap. And one time she carried Bokusui on the back and went to Tsubokawa river to fish trying to sooth the ache of her boy talking on the back.

With a toothache
I cried
My mother carried me
On the back
And went to the stream
To fish

He made the memory into a poem.”

牧水の生涯　新装版　塩月儀市著　より
「幼い頃の牧水はむし歯が多くてよく痛みました。痛んでおいおい泣きわめいていると母は牧水を膝に抱き上げて一緒に涙を流しました。またある時は泣く牧水を背負って坪谷川に魚釣りに行って背中の牧水に話しかけて痛みを和らげようともしました。

歯を痛み　
泣けば背負いて　
わが母は　
狭の小川に　
魚を釣りにき

と思い出をうたっています。」

Bokusui loved sake (Japanese rice wine), and in solitude he was trapped, but he couldn’t resist sake. In the suffering he made plenty works of sake. You can see his loneliness and the sadness that led him nowhere.

酒を愛し、寂しさのうちに酒に溺れ、それでも酒を断ち切れずに詠んだ歌に、人生の寂しさと、持って行き場の無い思いの悲しさを見ます。

Mother scolds me
Not to drink
While scolding
She pours me
The color of sake at night
In the dim room

飲むなと叱り　
叱りながらに　
母がつぐ　
うす暗き部屋の　
夜の酒のいろ

Visited the home of Bokusui where he was born and raised, nearby the museum.

記念館のそばにある、牧水の生家へも行きました。

Bokusui travelled all across Japan, and left many poems crossing over with the landscapes and reflections of his own.

牧水は日本国中を旅して、旅の景色と自分の心と重ね合わせて詠んだ歌を多く残しています。

How many more mountains and rivers
Do I have to go pass by
When can I reach to a country
That loneliness ends
Again I go traveling today

幾山河　
越えさり行かば　
寂しさの　
はてなむ国ぞ　
けふも旅ゆく

Having solitude at heart, Bokusui walked and walked. He went over a mountain and a river one by one. He searched for an eternal place where it can heal his lonesome soul. It is the trace of Bakusui.

淋しさを胸に抱えながら、歩いて歩いて、ひと山越え、ひと川渡り、その孤独を癒す果てしない場所を求め続けた、牧水の軌跡があります。

Mother Nature of water and greenery, Miyazaki raised Bokusui. His passion of composing the life is still living today and it is passed on to young generations.

宮崎の豊かな母なる水と緑が育んだ、牧水という歌人。その人生を詠う心は今も息づき、若い世代へと受け継がれています。

Every summer it is held national Tanka competition for high school students sponsored by Agency for Cultural Affairs, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Miyazaki city, Hyuga city and etc. At Bokusui memorial museum, it was introduced Tanka that high school students made and awarded. I felt so good reading love Tanka of youngsters. In the midst of summer, many refreshing and cool Tanka will be composed and introduced this year also.

文化庁、厚生労働省、宮崎県、日向市などが主催する、高校生を対象とした短歌の全国大会、牧水・短歌甲子園というものが毎年開催されています。牧水記念文学館では、若者らしい恋を詠んだ短歌など、瑞々しい感性が光る短歌が多く紹介されていました。今年もこの暑い夏の盛りに、涼やかで爽やかな歌が多く詠まれることでしょう。

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/牧水・短歌甲子園
 http://www.hyugacity.jp/display.php?cont=201105152654

Bokusui kept walking through his life, searching for something that heals his solitude. The footsteps of his are carved surely and he is planting seeds to young people. Tanka of Bokusui are introduced in junior high school and high school textbooks. And there are not few youngsters who admire and appreciate the values deeply, not only that they also make ones. I was delighted to know that there is still some promising hope in Japanese language education.

寂しい心を慰め癒してくれる何かを求めて、歩き続けた牧水。その足跡は確かに残り、多くの若者の心に今も種を蒔き続けています。中学校や高校の教科書に、現在も牧水の短歌が紹介されていることと、それを心の深い所で味わい、自ら短歌を詠む若者たちがいること。日本の国語教育も、まだまだ捨てたものじゃないと、希望が持てることを嬉しく思います。