Book of the Week – Selected Haiku with Notes and Commentary, Part 2: 1961-2012 by Kaneko Tohta
From the Introduction to the Series: “Kaneko Tohta (金子兜太, b. 1919) is among the most important literary and cultural innovators of postwar Japan. His career, the inception of which begins with his first haiku published at the age of 18, has now spanned 75 years, during which time he has pioneered major postwar modern-haiku movements, and become a leading literary and cultural figure as critic, teacher, scholar, and poet … Kaneko Tohta is virtually unknown outside of Japan due to a lack of translated works. Of those translated haiku to be found, few give an indication of the philosophic or critical basis informing his thought. Lacking such information, the bare poems out of context only hint at Kaneko’s achievement.”
This book was translated by The Kon Nichi Translation Group.
heaped cicadas –
gradually, transparent impurityto begin to be
—
misty dream bed
a blue shark’s spirit
pierces—
journeying
to Lu Xun’s grave
a few southern magnolia—
on a wolf
a firefly
attaches …—
towards recovery
a ruined ship a human shadowthe winter pine
You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library and please share your favorite poem from the book with us.
Do you have a chapbook published in 2018 or earlier that you would like featured as a Book of the Week? Contact us for details. Haiku featured in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by the THF Digital Librarian Kenneth Pearson and are used with permission.
Comments (2)
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Thank you providing a home for this compilation of selected haiku, translation, explication of Kaneko Tohta’s work. I love the idea of “settled wandering” and there’s a lot to appreciate in this work. There is way too much to digest in a single reading – will be revisiting as time permits. On initial reading I have a few favorites (mostly these are haiku that I can somewhat grasp without the background notes):
one dog two cats
we three finally
not A-bombed
away a horse –
washing her vulva with waterweed
the child bride
evening of the day
leaving heaven
a fox
a curse: upon
a girl’s face: butterflies
bees and …
shall I quit drinking sake?
what instinct
shall I next play with?
a green frog
boredom cannot kill that
Would you be able to provide a link to part 1 of this book?
Thank you so much for your response and for providing some of your favorites! Wonderful selections!
Here is the link to Part I: https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/items/show/2210