ShuntaroTanikawa … one of greatest poets from Japan passed away. He was 92. His Japanese language is so beautiful I never felt like translating his work – better learn Japanese and read and appreciate his poem in its original language I thought. But then, so many will miss out on his genius.
So I shall make an attempt out of love for his work.
宝だから
ほんとに大事なものはあるだけでいい
ほんとに大切なヒトはいるだけでいい
何でも誰でもあることいることで始まっている
朝 空がある 曇っていても晴れていても
昼 友達がいる 気が合っても合わなくても
夜 働く人がいる 君が夢を見ている間に
たまには人間やめてもいいんじゃないか
キノコになって森にいてみる
クラゲになって海にいてみる
コトバになって意味をやめてみる
声になってアンナプルナを呼んでみる
自分にもどってぼんやりしてみる
生きていれば毎日毎時が宝だから
目も耳も口も鼻も手足も忙しい
シニカルな大爆笑も宝石みたいに輝いて
谷川俊太郎
Treasure
Truly valuable things are good enough just existing
Truly precious person is good enough just being
Anything anybody starts from just being
Morning being a sky whether cloudy or sunny
Noon being friends whether we get along or not
Night someone’s working while you are dreaming
Once in a while maybe stop being a human
Be a mushroom and try being in the forest
Be a jellyfish and try being in the ocean
Be a word and quit having a definition
Be a voice and call out for Annapurna
Return to being yourself and why not space out
Every hour every day, each a treasure as long as we are alive
Being a live, our eyes, ears, mouth, nose, limbs are always busy
Alive, even a roaring laughter of cynicism
shines and sparkles like a treasured jewel
Shuntaro Tanikawa
It’s probably like reading Shakespear translated into Japanese or Hafiz or Rumi into English… with a translater in love with Shakespear or Hafiz, sure, it’s possible to do an adequate job but if you really really want to immerse yourself in that poetry … got to read them in the original language full of its quirks and charms. Read “Alone in Two Billion Light Years” (1952) in the original and feel the WONDER. First published when he was 21.