Writers Poets of Japan

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Koichi Yakushigawa

That Man

Is a great sweater

Usually he is rubbing his forehead,

in due course

His forehead is shining black red

like grazed or tanned.

Dark brown canvas bag

is suspended slantways

from his right shoulder,

That man is walking away

with his eyes fixed at the setting sun.

His step is light.

The step of coming home

is not always the same.

Heavy step or light step

reflects his life of the day.

That man walking into the setting sun

with a light step

as if it is his usual step.

Is the setting sun his home?

Does his life of the day end thus?

Does that man thus

ends his life of the day?

あの人は

汗かきだから

いつものように

ハンカチで額を擦りながら

歩いている

擦りすぎたのと

日焼けとで

あの人の額は

赤黒く焼けたようだ

右肩から斜めに

布製のバッグを懸けて

あの人が歩いてゆく

夕日に向かって

まるで夕日の中に

すっと入ってゆくように

それは自分の部屋に帰るときと

全く同じように自然な歩みだ

家に帰る足取りは

誰も同じとは限らない

重い足取りもあれば

軽い足取りもある

足取りには

その人の人生が映っている

あの人は軽々と

夕日の中に入ってゆく

ごく当たり前のように

こうして

あの人の一日が終るのか

Koichi’s original poem in Japanese

Takashi Arima

Tea Room

in the Yabuuchi Family’s House

I go through the blackened gate of an old house

lowering my square shoulders a little.

The roar of cars and hum of people die away

I glimpse an age-old hermitage garden.

I sit for a while in an Oribe-style tea room.

Suddenly I hear rainwater running down the gutter

the natural sound of koto

from near the stone washbassin.

The water closet, its floor is covered with sand,

bamboos tied with hemp-palm ropes.

Rain drops from he thicket beat shaky reddish walls.

The street, sandwiched by two large temples,

is lined with plain Japanese-style houses.

After the rain, I see sunlight trickle through clouds

while stepping on wet stones with my geta clogs.

Teahouse in Nanging

This is the same poem of Takashi Arima

in its original form : Japanese