短歌と英語版 Tanka in Japanese and Their English Versions: Mar. 2024
↑ ブロッコリーの花 ↑ Flowers of broccolis
畑じゅうのひまわりの花のそれぞれがゆっくり時計回りに回る
Each of all the flowers
Of the sunflower field is
Turning clockwise slowly
二、三枚重ねられている紙のように私は実は二、三人である
To tell the truth, I am
A few persons, like paper
Of a few layers
「火星行き」と紙飛行機に書いて飛ばす 火星に着くのは数十年後
I fly a paper plane
With “Bound for Mars” written on it.
It may take scores of years
手のひらを交換しあった人が今何を触っているかが分かる
I have exchanged palms
With a person. I can feel what
The person is touching
色の順を逆にして虹が架かったが逆だと気づいてもらえずすねた
The rainbow reversed
Its colour order, but sulked,
As no one noticed it
いないいないばあをするようにドリンクがばあっと出てくるのがドリンクばあ
At the “drink bar,”
A drink pops out, crying “baa,”
As if playing peepbo*
*There is a piece of Japanglish, “drink bar,” which is a system in which a machine in one area of a restaurant serves drinks to customers who have paid a set fee for the service. The “drink bar” also means the machine, or the area where the machine is installed. By the way, “peepbo” or “peekaboo” is “inai-inai-baa” in Japanese, so the Japanese can fancy that at the “drink bar,” a drink pops out, crying “baa,” as if playing peekaboo.
気がつくと首から下が紐になり頭部が宙を漂っていた
I found my head floating
In the air, with my body
Dangling like a string
鼓動するピッチャーマウンド 足の裏にどくんどくんと鼓動が伝わる
On the pitcher’s mound,
We feel through our soles
A heart throbbing
老いた空がしわしわになっていたけれどなぜか若返り張りがもどった
Having got decrepit,
The sky was wrinkled, but somehow
Has rejuvenated
扇風機を回すと集まる紙飛行機 前に浮かんで風を楽しむ
Paper airplanes enjoy
The draft from an electric fan,
Thronging in front of it
雪だるまの形の雲が飛んでいく 目、鼻、口も誰かがつけた
There goes a cloud
In the shape of a snowman.
Someone’s attached features
鳴りながら自力で宙を飛び回る鈴、鈴、鈴の大群が来た
A throng of tiny,
Spherical bells has come, ringing
And flying around
代わる代わるオウムとインコが人間の言葉を発し会話している
Uttering a word
By turns, a parrot and
A parakeet converse
リスのような尻尾が生えてしまった蛇 案外それが気に入ってもいる
Unexpectedly,
The snake liked a new tail
Like that of a squirrel
鬼ヶ島のまわりの海に住んでいる鬼ダコ 頭に角が生えている
Ogre Octopuses
Around Ogres’ Island have one
Or two horns on their heads*
*Japanese ogres have one or two horns on their heads. Ogres’ Island is the destination to which Momotaro, the legendary hero who was born from a peach (momo) and later subjugated ogres, headed with a dog, a monkey and a pheasant, who all became his vassals on the way in exchange for millet dumplings which Momotaro had around his waist.
銀河より金河と呼ばれたいなあと金色に光り始めた銀河
Wanting to be called
“Golden River,” the galaxy
Has become golden*
*In Japanese, “a galaxy” is “ginga” which means a silver river. The galaxy seems to prefer to be called Golden River.
ジャバラーが出現しました 蛇腹式に伸び縮みして暴れています
Jabarah is
Rampaging around, stretching and
Contracting like bellows*
*“Jabara” in Japanese is a bellows. “Jabara,” which is written as “蛇腹,“ literally means “the stomach of a snake.” “Jabarah” makes the Japanese imagine a bellows-shaped monster, which is as huge as Gozilla.
水上にネットを張って人魚たちがバドミントンを楽しんでいる
Putting up the net
Above the water, mermaids
Play badminton
ハンガーがストライキ中 凝った肩をもんで欲しいと訴えている
Clothes hangers are all
On strike, demanding to have their
Stiff shoulders massaged
そよぎながら歌っていたら人間が根元に集まり一緒に歌った
As I, a tree, was
Singing in the wind, humans came
And sang around me
鳥の名がついている木々 葉がすべてその名の鳥の羽根なのだった
The leaves of the trees are
All feathers. Each is named after
Birds, whose feathers it has
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