Friday, July 16, 2010

Santoka: Some Further Translations



Last month, I did a post for which Scott Watson allowed me to share some of his thoughts on translation, along with 5 of his excellent renderings of the work of Santoka. In response, in order to prompt to continued thought and, perhaps, even talk on the subject, Charlie Trumbull sent along some translations of the same poems from his ongoing Haiku Database project. I asked him for more info on the project and he sent it, kindly granting permission to reprint the overview here:


The Haiku Database Project


A

while ago I was in the library looking for the text of a certain poem and was grateful for those anthologies that featured a first-line index of the contents. I had the thought that it would be wonderful to have a first-line or subject index of the best English-language haiku. But then, I continued, since haiku are so short, why not a full-text index? And while we’re at it, since we’re effectively talking only about 40 years of English haiku activity, why not a comprehensive, inclusive database?

The Haiku Database in an attempt to do just that: to put into a searchable, sortable, electronic database all important haiku that have appeared in English. I began working on the project in September 1998 and so far (end of June 2010) have captured almost 220,000 haiku. An unscientific guess is that the total number of English haiku published in the journals, anthologies, and individual collections is about twice that number. The Database grows at a rate of more than 20,000 haiku a year.

I began — because it was easy — by copying materials from on-line haiku sites and journals, including Dogwood Blossoms (the first Internet haiku journal), the Shiki Internet Haiku Salon biweekly kukai, Dhugal Lindsay’s Web site (which includes a few issues of Futoh), the wonderful sites constructed by Jane Reichhold, ai li, Elizabeth St Jacques, Randy Brooks, John Hudak, and others. Next, I targeted the major English-language anthologies, and have so far included Cor van den Heuvel’s The Haiku Anthology (all three editions), Bruce Ross’s Haiku Moment, Jim Kacian’s annual Red Moon Anthologies (1996–2008) and the first five volumes in the New Resonance series (1999–2007), the San Francisco, Canadian, Australian, and two New Zealand anthologies, the British Haiku Hundred and Iron Book of Haiku, Zoe Savina’s huge international anthology, and many others.

Journals and individual collections are next. I have finished entering systematically the full runs of a few journals including American Haiku, Haiku West, Haiku Quarterly (Arizona), Woodnotes, Black Bough, South by Southeast, Acorn, Still, and Frogpond, and have begun working on Modern Haiku, Cicada, Dragonfly, Blithe Spirit, and Brussels Sprout. As for Internet sources, the Database includes Reflections, Haiku Light, The Heron’s Nest, Tinywords, Roadrunner, and Simply Haiku as well as much material from the English-language haiku columns in Japanese newspapers such as Mainichi and Asahi.

The Database focuses on haiku in English, but translations into English are also included. The Database now includes the contents of first three volumes of R.H. Blyth’s Haiku, as well as all of his two-volume History of Haiku. All the Peter Pauper haiku books have been extracted, as has the first volume of Toshiharu Oseko’s Bashô’s Haiku and many other translations into English of Japanese haiku. David Lanoue’s astonishing online database of Issa’s work was added at the end of 2007. Important individual collections are being captured as well, including Jane Reichhold’s massive Dictionary of Haiku (both the print and on-line editions; more than 4,800 haiku), Richard Wright’s Haiku: This Other World, and Jack Kerouac’s Book of Haikus.

Criteria for inclusion of a haiku are basically that it should have appeared in print (or in an online journal) in English. A few haiku in other languages are included, some translated, some not; these may form the core of a non-English haiku database some time in the future. Verses included as part of haiga or haibun are included if, in our opinion, they can stand alone as independent haiku. Except for the hokku, verses of renku are generally not included, nor generally are rengay, tanka, cinquains, and the like. In the case of concrete poems and short verses of haiku length, we generally try to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Children’s haiku are included, but gathering them is a low priority.

Data collected for each haiku include the text (including as much of the formatting as possible), the author, publication history, date of composition (or, more commonly, date of first publication), and notes. For haiku translated from languages other than English, notably Japanese, the original text (in the original orthography and in a romanized version, if applicable), the name of the translator, and date of translation are also included. These data permit searches on specific kigo and comparisons of various translations of a haiku by, say, Bashô, even when the English texts are very different. Other fields in the database assist in sorting by season, season words, attributes (e.g., rhyme), etc.

The purpose of The Haiku Database is to make it easier for serious students to locate and study haiku — i.e., it is a finding tool. So far the database has proved useful to poets wishing to check the originality of their own work and in a few cases has helped identify cases of plagiarism in haiku contests. It has been useful for authors writing about haiku, preparing newspaper columns or journal articles, and compiling anthologies to have at hand large selection of examples, together with original publication information.

Clearly, any sort of commercial use or making the database freely available—e.g., on the Web—is out of the question, and I will not publish any raw search data. I would, however, like to make the existence of this resource known and make the search capability available to others in the haiku community. Please let me know if you are looking for a specific haiku or want to know what use has been made of, for example, “pampas grass” or “Christmas” in haiku. Within reason, I’ll be happy to run a search for you.



The poems that follow are in the order of the original post as translated by Scott Watson. I haven't reproduced Scott's renderings again as it isn't a question, in my mind (nor, I believe, Charlie's either), which one is better or worse etc. It is simply a further glimpse into the mind of the original poet, Santoka; more takes on his language, imagery, and thought. It is a way to expand our understanding and further the conversation. As Cid Corman said


Poetry is that
conversation we could not
otherwise have had.
Cid Corman
Lilliput Review, #103





落ち葉ふる奥深く御仏をみる
ochiba furu oku fukaku Mihotoke o miru

Dead leaves fall, in the depth, I see the Buddha

Hiroaki Sato, Cicada 2:3 (1978)



Fallen leaves
Deep in the forest
I see a Buddha.

John Stevens, Santôka, Mountain Tasting #223; different format with translator not given, in Simply Haiku [Web] 3:3 (autumn 2005)




空襲警報るいるいとして柿あかし
kûshû keihô ruirui to shite kaki akashi

The air-raid alarm
Screaming, screaming;
Red persimmons.

John Stevens, Santôka, Mountain Tasting #160; different format with translator not given, in Simply Haiku [Web] 3:3 (autumn 2005)




死人とりまく人々に雲もなきそらや
shinin torimaku hito-bito ni kumo mo naki sora ya

no other translations




うれしいたよりもかなしいたよりも春の雪ふる
ureshii tayori mo kanashii tayori mo haru no yuki furu

Good news,
Bad news;
Spring snow falls.

John Stevens, Santôka, Mountain Tasting #215




しぐるるや死なないでゐる
shigururu ya shinu naide iru

Cold winter rain;
I am still alive.

R.H. Blyth, Blyth, History of Haiku II:181





Downpour, dead I’m not

Hiroaki Sato, Cicada 2:1 (1978)





Winter shower I'm still not dead

Hiroaki Sato, Santôka, Grass and Tree Cairn, 7





late autumn rain;
not yet dying

and

late autumn rain;
yet not dying

Stephen Wolfe, Wolfe, "Wreath of Weeds," 219






It’s drizzling,
Here I am,
Still alive.

Hisashi Miura and James Green, Selected Haiku from Sômokutô


For further info on the Haiku Database Project, you may contact Charles Trumbull at:


trumbullc AT comcast DOT net (all one phrase, with AT standing in for @ and DOT standing in for .)


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This week's featured poem comes from Lilliput Review, #145 and, since this post has been about translation, what can be more fitting than this little tanka, from the seminal 100 Poems by 100 Poets collection (a full translation of which may be found here):




The mountain pheasant's tail
trails long behind
–longer still
is my loneliness
in the unendingly long night.
Kakinomoto-no Hitomaro
translated by Dennis Maloney & Hide Oshiro









completing
the green mountain
a pheasant cries
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue





best,
Don

16 comments:

  1. HOLY MACKRELLE, CHARLIE!
    You tellin' me that
    I
    can find my (...) AND
    see if anyboddhi IS plagiarizing/stealing MY
    'stuff'?

    and you include those 'things' that are visualized, too?

    This is one-hell-of-a project...


    cheers/thanks, Ed

    pee est:

    as I don't keep track of what of my "stuff" gets published... where and when.. you mean atellme that (if 'I' am included among this 2.330 million poem compendium) I CAN track me down?

    amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Charlie Trumbull for Ed, via Don:

    Hey, Ed,

    Would you believe the DB contains 309 of your works?! Mostly from your books 24 Ways of Seeing, Shrike, and Full Moon. See, someone out here's watching! -- Charlie

    ReplyDelete
  3. HOLY COW!

    full moon
    in her garden
    peeing

    say Charlie while I got your attention I never did get/ buy that last MH that I have some things in you still have a copy? you know the one with those hand-written things?

    and if I knew which issue/# I'd send you/MH a checque

    hate to be so public
    but
    'that' never stopped me from.

    309! jeeze... is that visual one "silk" there?

    as I recall, it was in the first issue that Lee did after Bob died..

    Ed

    ReplyDelete
  4. well: I found that "silk" poem...

    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bxWxn2TaLSw/RyarLbMRObI/AAAAAAAABjM/YzcN4H_jCl4/s1600-h/2007.10.29BakerSilk.jpg

    and GEE ACHE wrote an entire essay re: it and a subsequent piece...kind-uh neat, huh?!

    now,
    off to watch the grass grow;

    ReplyDelete
  5. For further info on the Haiku Database Project, you may contact Charles Trumbull at:

    trumbullc AT comcast DOT net

    (all one phrase, with AT standing in for @ and DOT standing in for .)

    ReplyDelete
  6. enough about
    dieing
    let's talk about me!

    under every leaf
    grounded
    a Kami

    ReplyDelete
  7. There's that great routine in the original "Dracula" with the maid and the butler or some such ...

    "Everybody's crazy, exceptin' me and you. And sometimes I got me doubts about you."

    Kami ... kazi!

    ReplyDelete
  8. well I for 3hree AM paying attention
    2wo points:

    a. Kami are - get "into" this:
    http://wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/KAMI.HTM

    b. I once replied to something (...) said to / about me:

    what if suddenly
    you discovered that
    I was the sane one?

    I also replied to "her" (Stone Girl):

    "I read The Kami Sutra
    but
    only the good parts"


    a hot slow day here, too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for the link, Ed ... very interesting, it weaves in nicely with the rich heavy meal of "Kissing the Mask" which I'm enjoying immensely.

    Searching for that bit of film ...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Well, Ed, I found the part on YouTube with the Dracula quote ... unfortunately I can't embed it however here is the URL:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3jvOJgrLKc

    The conversation between the maid and the asylum assistant is at 6:00 through 6:20.

    ReplyDelete
  11. ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

    will do my least to make something of this "trip" into
    the Nether-world of reality...The First Drack

    http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/images6/dracula.JPG

    three fun books BOOKS! remember "books"?

    to read:

    Stoker's Dracula
    Shelley's Frankenstein
    Baker's Stone Girl E-pic

    Stone Girl
    sucking
    red lips

    (now to locate some of Valentine Hugo's work...sclusitu

    ReplyDelete
  12. http://www.cddc.vt.edu/bps/rexroth/essays/haiku.htm

    not exactly "in this box"... I think that I've seen/read this before...

    certainlitly worth a re:visit!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ed, thanks for the Haiku and Japanese Religion link which will be very helpful for the fall program on haiku I'm doing for lifelong learners ...

    They probably know more than me already.

    ReplyDelete
  14. yeah...

    and I just ordered a copy of Hiro's book

    pretty soon maybe tomorrow I'll need/ get
    a nother book-case ...

    where to put it
    a problem
    and the book-mites

    ReplyDelete
  15. I can see the tiny little glasses on the tiny little book mites, so well educated (& so well feed) ...

    ReplyDelete
  16. http://www.ehow.com/how_5627461_rid-book-mites.html

    a new book case for my books
    now a dehumidifier for my books

    I could go broke saving all of this c=r=a=p!

    ReplyDelete