短歌と英語版 Tanka in Japanese and Their English Versions: Jul. 2022

↑のこのしまアイランドパーク（福岡市）にて　↑At Island Park of Noko (Fukuoka City)

細い舌をささっと出しては引っ込めて一心に蟻を食べる人々　　　　　　　　　
     Crouching down and darting
     Their narrow tongues in and out,
     The people eat ants

亀が足をにゅうっと伸ばし木の幹にコアラのように抱きついている　　　　　　
     Pushing out its legs long,
     A turtle hugs a tree trunk
     Like a koala

真っ白な花びらになって砕け散った火山　花びらは海を越え飛んだ　　　　　　
     The volcano broke
     Into countless white petals,
     Which flew over the sea

春や秋に乗り手もなしに何台か駆け抜けていく渡り自転車　　　　　　　　　　
     In spring and fall,
     Migratory bicycles
     Pass by without riders

その傘はさす人と話したり雨の中で一緒に踊ったりする　　　　　　　　　　　
     The umbrella talks
     With its holder, and dances
     Together in the rain

向き合った二匹の亀が代わる代わる口からふうっとしゃぼん玉を吹く　　　　　
     The two turtles facing
     Each other blow soap bubbles
     From their mouths in turn

せがまれてまたかよと文句言いながらイナバウアーをしてみせる虹　　　　　　
     Pestered by humans,
     The rainbow showed its specialty
     Of bending backward*

     *In the Japanese version, I used the word “Ina Bauer,” which is a term of figure skating. The exact meaning of the term, which derives from the name of the German figure skater who invented the move, is to skate “with the blades parallel, toes pointing in opposite directions” according to Wikitionary, but in Japan, it is widely misunderstood to mean bending backward while skating, as the Japanese figure skater, Shizuka Arakawa, bent impressively backward while doing “Ina Bauer” in her performance in the Torino Winter Olympic Games in 2006 where she won the gold medal. The term, together with its misunderstood meaning, has been very popular in Japan since 2006, and both the humans and the rainbow in my Japanese version use the term as “bending backward.”

地球儀に如雨露で水をかけていたら陸の部分から草が生えてきた　　　　　　　
     I watered the world globe
     With a sprinkling can. Weeds sprouted
     On the continent

空の星を指でつぶすと汁が出る　どの色の星も汁は黄緑　　　　　　　　　　　
     When you crush a star
     In the sky with your fingers,
     Yellow-green juice comes out

魚屋で買った魚が機械だった　苦情を言うと取り替えてくれた　　　　　　　　
     I found the fish I bought
     Was a machine. The fish shop
     Replaced it with the real

だんだんと背丈が伸びていくコップ　やがて私と同じ背になった　　　　　　　
     The glass grows taller
     Gradually. It has become
     As tall as I

自転車を降りるとサドルが亀になる　乗ろうとするとすぐサドルになる　　　　
     When I get off,
     The saddle of the bicycle
     Becomes a turtle

「文字だけにもじもじしている」恥ずかしくてその文字たちがもじもじしている 
     “The letters are squirming,
     As they are letters.” Ashamed,
     They are squirming, indeed*

     *In Japanese, “letter” is “moji,” and “squirm” is “moji-moji-suru,” so “The letters are squirming, as they are letters” makes sense in Japanese, but the statement is so silly a pun that the letters which comprise it are squirming, being too much embarrassed and ashamed.

白い虹が架かったけれど粉になって風にさらさら飛ばされて消えた　　　　　　     A white rainbow appeared.
     Becoming powdery, it was
     Blown away by the wind

カタツムリの前三分の一くらいの部分が壁にいくつも生える 　　　　　 
     The forward third of
     A snail grows here and there
     On the walls of my room

半機械の状態にある人々がじっと機械化が終わるのを待つ　　　　　　　　　　
     People in the process
     Of mechanization wait for
     Its completion stock-still

近くにいる人が本物か幻か触れてみないと分からない世界　　　　　　　　　　
     I am in a world where
     Touch is necessary to know
     A person is real