短歌と英語版 Tanka in Japanese and Their English Versions: Jun. 2024
↑ 箱崎宮あじさい苑(福岡市) ↑ At the hydrangea garden in Hakozaki Shrine (Fukuoka City)
誰も彼も鼻がヤカンの注ぎ口のようになっていた 私もだった
Everyone had a nose
Like the spout of a kettle. and
I had one like that, too
地表という巨大な楽器を奏でながら演奏者「風」が今日も吹いている
The surface of the earth
Is a huge instrument, and
The wind is its player
鼓動ほどの周期で文字が太くなりまた細くなるを繰り返している
As if on a cycle
Of heartbeats, the letters get
Thick and thin, thick and thin . . .
眠っている間に鼻を盗まれる そういう被害がこの頃多い
More and more people
Have their noses stolen,
While they are asleep
両端を引っ張ると地図がびよーんと伸び「地ー図」になった おいしそうだった
When pulled from both sides,
Maps stretch like a molten cheese,
Looking tasty*
*In Japanese, “a map” is “chizu,” so when it is pulled from both sides, “chizu” becomes “chiiiizu,” sounding like “cheese.”
カタツムリがたまに口からしゃぼん玉を飛ばして行方を見送っている
From time to time, a snail
Issues a bubble from its mouth,
Watching how it flies off
隕石が土星の輪っかにぶつかって一箇所穴が開いてしまった
A meteorite
Broke through the rings of Saturn,
Leaving a hole in them
色と色の境界線がはっきりした虹が架かった 違和感がすごい
A weird rainbow, whose
Seven colours are quite distinct,
With no gradations
その巨人は草食なので木に顔を近づけ葉っぱをむしゃむしゃ食べる
As he is plant-eating,
The giant brings his mouth to trees
And eats their leaves, munching
カタツムリの殻に触れたらモーターが中で回っている感じがした
The shell of the snail was
Vibrating, as if a motor
Was running inside
その虫は豆腐をあちこちかじっては見事な像を作り上げていく
Out of a piece of bean
Curd, the worm creates a sculpture,
Nibbling here and there
階段をたすきを掛けた蛙たちが一斉に跳ねて登り始めた
From the foot of stairs,
Frogs with a sash across their chests
Start climbing all at once
その人は風に吹かれるとエオリアンハープのように音を発する
The person sounds
Like an Aeolian harp,
When blown by the wind
真っ直ぐに走りたいのに蛇行する自転車 むかし蛇だったらしい
Though I want to go straight,
My bicycle drives zigzag,
As it was once a snake
笑い声の群が飛び回る たまに耳に聞こえるけれど目には見えない
Always invisible,
At times audible, a flying
Swarm of laughing voices
粒々が集まった球 それぞれの粒は私の顔なのだった
A globe consisting of
Innumerable small grains,
Each of which is my face
タンポポの綿毛のようにあじさいの一つ一つの花が飛び去る
Like dandelion fluff,
Small units of hydrangeas
Fly away, one by one
長く長く伸ばした首を蛇のようにくねらせて亀が踊りを踊る
Twisting its neck,
Which is as long as a snake,
The tortoise dances
人間から笑いを奪い笑う猫 奪われた人はにこりともしない
The cat laughs, grins, and smiles,
By robbing a human
Of laughter, grins, and smiles
その鏡の前に座ると手で顔の形を好きなように変えられる
In front of the mirror,
You can shape your face as you like
By pushing and pulling
誰も彼も頬をぷくーっとふくらませて歩いているのは一体何故だ?
All the pedestrians
Are puffing out their cheeks.
Are they all sulky?
鼻と鼻をJにして組み象が二頭右へ左へ回って踊る
Joining their J-shaped trunks,
A pair of elephants dance,
Turning right and left
キュウリがもしイチゴのような色だったら 味もイチゴと同じだったら
What if cucumbers were
As red as, and tasted
Quite like, strawberries?
手渡されたボールはだんだん形を変え人の顔になりやがてしゃべった
The ball I was handed
Changed into a human face
And began to speak
起き上がりこぼしのように起き上がりまた整列するボウリングのピン
Each time they are knocked down,
The pins of bowling right themselves
Like tumblers and line up
キュウリなのにタバコのようにゆっくりと端の方からゆっくり燃える
The cucumbers burn
Like tobacco from its end
Slowly, emitting smoke
たくさんのカードが空から降ってきて人の頭にぺたぺた貼りつく
Innumerable cards
Fall from the sky and stick
To the head of humans
いくら前へ跳ねてもちっとも進めなくてウサギが焦ってますます跳ねる
However hard it leaps,
The hare cannot go forward, so
Panicking, leaps harder
音楽に合わせてヤカンが注ぎ口を振ったり花がうなずいたりする
To the rhythm of
Music, flowers are nodding and
Kettles swaying their spouts
キャベツの葉をはぐと中からあじさいの花が出てくることがたまにある
You will sometimes find
A hydrangea flower,
Stripping off cabbage leaves
渡りかけた横断歩道が逆走する動く歩道のように動いて
As I began to cross,
The crosswalk began to recede,
So I gave up crossing
首にかけた輪っかを別のカタツムリにたすきのように渡すカタツムリ
Having carried a ring
On its neck, a snail passes
It on to the next snail
小刻みに震えて耳が音を出す「耳鳴り」 まわりの人にも聞こえる
Vibrating, my ears
Emit a sound, which is
Audible to others
背の瘤が急にびよーんとバネ仕掛けで跳ねる生き物「びっくり駱駝」
When a human comes near,
The hump of the camel pops up
Like a jack-in-the-box
ネジを巻いてスタートボタンを押してやるとしばらくの間ペラペラしゃべる
Wind it up at the back
And push the start button, and
It prattles for a while
あじさいの花に帽子をかぶせよう みんなにかぶせて記念撮影
A commemorative
Shot of hydrangea flowers
With caps and hats on them
器とはまわりを壁で囲った物 部屋も一種の器なんだなあ
A vessel is a set
Of walls, so a room is
A kind of vessel
他の星に留守番を頼みふらふらと北極星が旅に出かけた
Asking neighbours to look
After its house, Polaris
Has gone on a trip
全体が黄色くなって端の方がすぼんだ虹はバナナみたいだ
A yellow rainbow
Which has narrowed ends looks
Like a banana
目の前をミニ熱気球がしゃぼん玉のようにいくつか漂って行った
Mini-hot-air balloons
Go floating in front of me
Like soap bubbles
千倍の大きさになったアリクイが都市で次々人間を食べる
An anteater is
Eating humans, having got
A thousand times larger
猫の毛が日に日に色を変えていく 赤猫だったり青猫だったり
Daily, the cat changes
Its colour. One day it is red;
On another day, blue
縞模様の横断歩道がぷかぷかと筏のように流れていった
Like a raft of
Black and white woods, a crosswalk
Goes floating in the air
虹が急に暴れ出したが建物が踏みつぶされたりすることはない
Suddenly, the rainbow
Began to rampage around, but
Not a building was crushed
「ぴかぴかの社員食堂」なんちゃって なんちゃってって何がなんちゃって?
Drolly I say,
“A shining company canteen.”
But why drolly?*
*In Japanese, “a company canteen” is “syain-syokudo,” which sounds like “shine” syokudo, so a Japanese has a reason to say “a shining company canteen” drolly.
虹が少しぼやけているのは小刻みに虹全体が震えているから
The rainbow appears
A little blurred, as it is
Vibrating all over
虹が空に架かって消えると誰か一人必ず行方不明になった Each time a rainbow
Disappears, a human
Is lost sight of
スズメバチがただ映っている動画だが音声はずっと「チュンチュンチュンチュン」
A video which
Features hornets, accompanied
By chirps of sparrows*
*In Japanese, “a hornet” is called “a sparrow bee.”
たくさんの小さな鈴の房のように風に揺れる度あじさいが鳴る
Swayed by the wind,
A hydrangea flower rings
Like a cluster of bells
ギルギルは見限る裏切るぶった切る そしていつでも脂ぎっている
Guilguil deserts,
Betrays, and chops off. It is
Always greasy*
*“Guilguil” is a imaginary creature, whose name derives from the ending “giru” of some Japanese verbs: “mikagiru” = “desert”; “uragiru” = “betray”; “buttagiru” = “chop off”; “aburagiru” = “be greasy.”
あじさいに頭突きをしたら意外にも石頭だった いてててててて
I gave a head butt
To a hydrangea flower,
Which was adamantine
「飛び手袋」 両手にはめてばたばたと羽ばたく動作をすると飛び立てる
When you wear “fly gloves,”
You can fly off into the sky,
By flapping your hands
突風に横断歩道の標識の紳士が帽子を飛ばされて走る
The man in the sign
Of a crosswalk had his hat blown
And ran to catch it*
*In Japan, a gentleman with a hat is depicted in the sign of a crosswalk.
シマウマの身体のように柔らかな横断歩道を素足で渡る
I am walking barefoot
On a soft crosswalk, which feels
Like a real zebra
星々が細長くなりにょろにょろと動き回っている末期宇宙
Toward the end of
The universe, stars will have all
Got long and be wriggling
迷宮に入ると虎はあちこちに臭いをつけて帰りに備えた
In the labyrinth,
The tiger scent-marked here and there
Not to lose its way home
人間がどういうときに笑うかを理解し笑うが感情はない
With the knowledge of when
Humans laugh, it laughs, but without
Any emotion
人間の形の餅が身をかがめている「かがみ餅」 腰が痛そう
Rice cakes in the shape of
A human who is bending are
Called “Bending rice cakes”*
*In some houses in Japan, there is a custom to offer round rice cakes to the gods at New Year’s Day. The rice cakes are called “kagami-mochi.” It is so called because the round rice cake resembles the shape of a mirror (“kagami”) in ancient times. By the way, there is a verb “kagamu” in Japanese which means to “bend,” so “kagami-mochi” can mean “rice cakes which are bending.”
人間の背丈くらいのナメクジがどんどん分裂して小さくなる
A slug the size of
A human splits and splits
Into small ones
停車したバスの扉からたくさんの紙飛行機が出て飛び去った
When the door of the bus
Opened, many paper planes
Came out, flying
シマウマが横断歩道を渡っているジャケット写真のレコード「ゼブラズ」
On the jacket for
The LP “Zebras,” zebras are
Crossing a crosswalk
好都合な風向きになると現れて紙飛行機が旅を続ける
When the wind shifts round to
The favourable direction,
Paper planes come out
採集したキノコがみんな脱走しぽよんぽよんと森へ跳ねていく
All the mushrooms
We had gathered escaped
To the forest, leaping
一杯に身体を広げ食パンがムササビのように滑空していく
Like a flying squirrel,
A slice of bread glides through the air,
Stretching its body
分裂して小さくなった虹たちが人間の肩に留まったりする
The rainbow has split
Into small ones, which sometimes
Perch on our shoulders
群をなしてジグソーパズルのピースたちが飛び回りたまにさっと組み上がる
Flying in a swarm,
Pieces of a jigsaw puzzle
Assemble at times
未来からやってくる日々 それでいて過去から日々は生まれてもいる
Days come from the future;
Nevertheless, they are
Born by the past, too
高層の建築物が提灯のように時々つぶれては伸びる
Like pleated paper
Lanterns, high rise buildings
Crush and stretch, crush and stretch
温泉のマークが宙を飛んでいて時々人の額に貼りつく
The map symbols of
A hot spring are flying and stick
To humans’ brows at times*
*The map symbol of a hot spring is ♨.
顔の中、頭の中が空っぽで入れ物になる容器な人々
Vessel-like people, whose
Heads are empty and can be
Used as vessel*
*In Japanese, “a vessel” and “cheerful” are both “yoki,” so “vessel-like people” can be a pun on “cheerful people.”
文字盤の数字が全部Xでいつでも十時のクロックX
By the Clock X,
Whose figures are all X, it is
Always ten o’clock
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