Two Under the Trees
Takamura Kotaro
translated by Ad Blankestijn
- by a pair of pine trees in far-off Adachigahara,
I see her standing
at the roots of the trees -
That is Mount Atatara,
that brilliance over there is the Abukuma River.
While sitting down like this with few words,
only the pine wind of distant times blows light green
through my drowsy head,
in this vast landscape of early winter.
No need to hide the joy of loving quietly, holding hands with you,
from that white cloud looking down on us.
You let a mysterious elixir burn in the jar of your soul,
oh, you draw me down to the bottom of the sea of mysterious love.
The view of the seasons of ten years we've walked together,
reveals the infinity of woman in you.
What smolders in that infinity,
is precisely what cleanses me of the desires that afflict me,
and pours the fresh fountain of youth into my troubled life.
It's difficult to catch as if bewitched,
and keeps changing shape all the time.
That is Mount Atatara,
That brilliance over there is the Abukuma River.
Here is where you were born,
those small dot-like white walls are your family's sake brewery.
Let me stretch out my legs,
and inhale the air full of the fragrance of the trees of this empty, sunny north country.
Let me wash my skin in this atmosphere which is just like you:
cool, pleasant, smooth and supple.
I will again be far away tomorrow,
in the deceitful capital, in the chaotic vortex of love and hatred,
into the midst of that human comedy that I fear and yet cling to.
Here is where you were born,
the heaven and earth that gave life to your wonderful unique flesh.
The pine wind is still blowing,
tell me once more about the place names of this lonely panorama in early winter.
That is Mount Atatara,
that brilliance over there is the Abukuma River.
Juka no futari
--Michinoku no Adachigahara no Nihonmatsu matsu no nekata ni hito tateru miyu--
Are ga Atatarayama,
ano hikaru no ga Abukumagawa.
Ko yatte kotoba sukuna ni suwatte iru to,
uttori nemuru yo na atama no naka ni,
tada toi yo no matsukaze bakari ga usumidori ni fukiwatarimasu.
Kono okina fuyu no hajime no noyama no naka ni,
anata to futari shizuka ni moete te wo kunde iru yorokobi wo,
shita wo mite iru ano shiroi kumo ni kakusu no wa yoshimasho.
Anata wa fushigi na sentan wo tamashi no tsubo ni kuyurasete,
aa, nan to iu yumyo na ai no umizoko ni sasou koto ga,
futari issho ni aruita junen no kisetsu no tenbo wa,
tada anata no naka ni nyonin no mugen wo miseru bakari,
mugen no kyo ni kemuru mono koso,
Konna ni mo joi ni nayamu watashi wo kiyomete kure,
konna ni mo kuju wo mi ni ou watashi ni sawayaka na wakasa no izumi wo sosoide kureru,
mushiro mamono no yo ni tsukamaegatai,
myo ni hengen suru mono desu ne.
Are ga Atatarayama,
ano hikaru no ga Abukumagawa.
Koko wa anata no umareta furusato,
ano chiisana shirakabe no tenten ga anata no uchi no sakagura.
sore de wa ashi wo nobinobi to nagedashite,
kono garan to harewatatta kitaguni no ki no kaori ni michita kuki wo suo,
anata sono mono no yo na hiiyari to kokoroyoi,
sunnari to danryoku aru funiki ni hada wo arawo.
Watashi wa mata ashita toku saru,
ano burai no miyako, kontontaru aizo no usu no naka e,
watashi no osoreru, shikamo shuchaku fukai ano ningen kigeki no tadanaka e.
Koko wa anata no umare furusato,
kono fushigina bekko no nikushin o unda tenchi.
Mada matsukaze ga fuite imasu,
mo ichido kono fuyu no hajime no monosabishii panorama no chiri o oshiete kudasai.
Are ga Atatarayama,
ano hikaru no ga Abukumagawa.
樹下の二人
――みちのくの安達が原の二本松松の根かたに人立てる見ゆ――
あれが阿多多羅山、
あの光るのが阿武隈川。
かうやつて言葉すくなに坐つてゐると、
うつとりねむるやうな頭の中に、
ただ遠い世の松風ばかりが薄みどりに吹き渡ります。
この大きな冬のはじめの野山の中に、
あなたと二人静かに燃えて手を組んでゐるよろこびを、
下を見てゐるあの白い雲にかくすのは止しませう。
あなたは不思議な仙丹を魂の壺にくゆらせて、
ああ、何といふ幽妙な愛の海ぞこに人を誘ふことか、
ふたり一緒に歩いた十年の季節の展望は、
ただあなたの中に女人の無限を見せるばかり。
無限の境に烟るものこそ、
こんなにも情意に悩む私を清めてくれ、
こんなにも苦渋を身に負ふ私に爽かな若さの泉を注いでくれる、
むしろ魔もののやうに捉へがたい
妙に変幻するものですね。
あれが阿多多羅山、
あの光るのが阿武隈川。
ここはあなたの生れたふるさと、
あの小さな白壁の点点があなたのうちの酒庫。
それでは足をのびのびと投げ出して、
このがらんと晴れ渡つた北国の木の香に満ちた空気を吸はう。
あなたそのもののやうなこのひいやりと快い、
すんなりと弾力ある雰囲気に肌を洗はう。
私は又あした遠く去る、
あの無頼の都、混沌たる愛憎の渦の中へ、
私の恐れる、しかも執着深いあの人間喜劇のただ中へ。
ここはあなたの生れたふるさと、
この不思議な別箇の肉身を生んだ天地。
まだ松風が吹いてゐます、
もう一度この冬のはじめの物寂しいパノラマの地理を教へて下さい。
あれが阿多多羅山、
あの光るのが阿武隈川。
[Mount Adatara]
Takamura Kotaro (1883–1956) was a Japanese poet and sculptor. He was born in Tokyo and educated at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. His father also was a sculptor - in fact one of the earliest sculptors in Japan who worked in the Western style. Between 1906 and 1909, the son studied in New York, London and Paris, and became known for his intricate wood sculptures and powerful bronzes.
[Takamura Kotaro]
In 1914 Takamura Kotaro published his first book of poetry, written in the international style of "free verse" (so not in the traditional style of tanka or haiku), which brought him immediate praise. He is especially famous for his 1941 collection Chiekosho ("Selections of Chieko", in English sometimes titled "Chieko's Sky" after one of the poems), a collection of poems about his wife, Chieko (1886-1938).
Chieko was born in what is now the city of Nihonmatsu in central Fukushima, as the daughter of a family engaged in sake brewing. In 1903, she attended Japan Women's University in Tokyo, and graduated in 1907. She became an oil painter, and made colorful papercuts. She also was an early member of the Japanese feminist movement Seitosha, joining in 1911. She made the cover illustration for the first issue of their magazine, "Seito". In February 1914, she married Takamura Kotaro, whom she met soon after he had returned from France.
[Takamura Chieko]
Following the breakup of her family home in 1929, Chieko was diagnosed in 1931 with symptoms of schizophrenia – she was hospitalized for that disease in 1935. She died from tuberculosis in 1938. Takamura Kotaro's book of poems about her and their love - which ended tragically due to Chieko's illness - is still widely admired and read today in Japan.
Here is another famous poem from the collection:
Child's Talk
Chieko says there's no sky in Tokyo,I want to see the real sky, she says.
Surprised, I look at the sky:
among the leaves on the cherry trees
is a familiar clear sky
that I can't separate from -
the blurred, hazy horizon
in the light pink dampness of morning.
Gazing into the distance, Chieko says:
the blue sky that appears every day
above Mount Atatara,
that's what I call the real sky, she says.
This is just child's talk of the sky.
(written in 1928)
[Takamura Chieko's parental home in Nihonmatsu (originally a sake brewery),
now a museum dedicated to her]
The quotation at the top of "Two Under the Trees" is a tanka (traditional-style poem) by Takamura Kotaro. "Michinoku" is a traditional name for "Northern Japan". Nihonmatsu is a historical city in Fukushima, between Fukushima city and Koriyama. Adachigahara is an area in Nihonmatsu. Mt Adatara (in the poem the old name is used, Atatara) is a 1700m high mountain - it consists of multiple volcanoes forming a broad, forested massif, which stretches about 9 km in a north-south direction. Seen from Nihonmatsu, the mountain has a beautiful shape. There are several onsen (hot springs) in the vicinity. The Abukuma River is the major river flowing through Fukushima Prefecture. Takamura Kotaro contrasts the naturalness and freshness he finds both in Chieko and the surroundings that have molded her, with the "deceitful capital" Tokyo, the big city where he has to make his living.
Chiekosho by Takamura Kotaro (d. 1956) entered into the public domain in Japan in 2005, as at that time copyright was set at author's death plus 50 years. Although in 2016 the copyright term was extended to author's death plus 70 years, this is not applied retroactively to works which already had entered the public domain before 2018.
Original text available at Aozora Bunko.
Studies and translations:
A Brief History of Imbecility, Hiroaki Sato, University of Hawaii Press, 1992
The Chieko Poems, tr. by John G. Peters (Green Integer, 2007)
Birnbaum, Phyllis. Modern Girls, Shining Stars, the Skies of Tokyo: Five Japanese Women. (Columbia University Press, 2015).
The story of Chieko and Kotaro was filmed in 1967 as Chieko's Portrait, with Iwashita Shima and Tanba Tetsuro.
Photos:
Mt Adatara: photo by blog author.
Takamura Kotaro: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Takamura Chieko: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Chieko's parental home: public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Japanese Poetry Index