11/08/2013

ISSA - kumo spider

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. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .





spiderweb in my garden, Gabi Greve 2005


. WKD : kumo 蜘蛛 spider, Spinne .
kigo for summer


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隅の蜘案じな煤はとらぬぞよ
sumi no kumo anji na susu wa toranu zo yo

Spiders in the corners,
Don't worry!
I'm not going to sweep them.

Tr. R. H. Blyth


Don't worry, spiders,
I keep house
casually.

Tr. Robert Hass


corner spider
rest easy, my soot-broom
is idle

Tr. David Lanoue


Spiders in the corner--
Don't you be anxious,
I won't break your webs.

Tr. Lewis MacKenzie


Spiders in the corrner
Don't worry!
I won't sweep your house

Tr. Nanao Sakaki


- quote
Recently, the Robert Hass 'version' of the subject Issa haiku was brought up in a mainstream poetry workshop I attend. One of the participants registered displeasure at the idea of people 'translating' poetry from languages they don't know.He didn't think such efforts should be called 'translations'. It was pointed out that Robert Lowell called his poetry translations 'imitations', and Hass calls his translations of haiku 'version', but that didn't mollify the participant.

So I sent a 'version' of the following as an email to the workshop leader, hopefully showing why a practicing, award-winning poet can be a better 'translator' of poetry even if the poet doesn't know the source language of the poetry being translated, than translators who do know the source language, but aren't poets themselves.

MORE
. Discussion of the translations - Larry Bole .


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蜘の子はみなちりじりの身すぎ哉
kumo no ko wa mina chirijiri no misugi kana

the spider's children
have all gone off
to earn a living

Tr. Addiss


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蜘の巣に月さしこんで夜のせみ
kumo no su ni tsuki sashikonde yoru no semi


むだにして蜘が下るや花御堂
muda ni shite kumo ga sagaru ya hanamidoo

- Translations by David Lanoue


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. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 - Introduction .


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