Waka Poems
by Minosuke Noguchi
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Waka are classical Japanese five-line poems of 31 syllables arranged in a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern. The following poems are English translations of waka poems written by Minosuke Noguchi (1875-1972). He immigrated to the U.S. from Japan in 1898, and he farmed in northeast Colorado for 42 years. In 1948, Minosuke and his wife Tomi moved from Colorado to a small town just outside of Millbrook in upstate New York. The 63 poems below are left as a memory for my five daughters. * * * This waka was written in about 1920. 1 Bending
cosmos flowers knock * * * Remembering my homeland 2 Soon
over the mountain edge the moon will come * * * My life 3 Getting
dark along the way * * * Declining
a farewell party when leaving 4 Dried
leaves carried by the wind at the roadside * * * When Tomi passed away 5 Over
the years, depending on each other * * * The
next seven poems (6 - 12) were written 6 Captivating
pale green maples 7 Those
mountains may have an owner but 8 Day
by day autumn leaves fall around the mountain pass 9 Autumn
leaves still on twigs, scattered on the ground 10 A
lonely feeling, saying goodbye to vanishing autumn 11 As
I consider each of these beautiful autumn leaves 12 Windless
evening, so still even treetops do not move * * * The
next eighteen poems (13 - 30) were written 13 The
yellowish mountain maples behind our home 14 Backyard
trees with pure-white frost 15 What
beauty, yesterday and today 16 Not
amber, not crimson 17 No
fame, no visitors for this town's maples 18 Remnants
of autumn displayed on mountains opposite to us 19 It's
too bad no one comes to see 20 Hoping
for a little rain, gathering up pine needles 21 Maple
trees on the mountains, after the rain 22 Leaves
raked up and packed into baskets 23 Awakened
at dawn, but hearing 24 Though
hoping autumn leaves will remain forever 25 Up
to yesterday, steeped in autumn's beauty 26 Lying
ill in bed, seeing flowers covered with snow 27 Snow
on top of autumn colors 28 Thinking
the snow had stopped, again it started falling 29 Incomparable
beauty, the snow 30 Resting
from the many tasks to be done before winter * * * Thirty-three miscellaneous poems (31 - 63) 31 Parched
fields with newly planted seeds 32 Falling,
falling, disappearing soon 33 Cherry
blossoms, spring comes round again 34 Barely
perceptible, an enchanting smell at the village edge 35 River
willow branches drooping down 36 Thick
green leaves block the sunlight, but sweat dripping 37 Seeing
fireflies, thinking it still summer 38 At
dusk, a flower I do not recognize 39 Getting
along well with each other is hard 40 In
this world of continual strife 41 To
the right, to the left, mountains covered in autumn leaves 42 How
happy to live in our humble home 43 In
my dreams, eggplants in the field shrivel up under the heat 44 Wondering
during the drought whether rain will come 45 Thinking
autumn leaves were crimson 46 From
the refreshing autumn grass 47 In
mid autumn the garden flowers faded 48 Late
autumn, fallen scattered leaves in the grove 49 People's
skills, shown in many ways 50 Fallen
autumn leaves scattered on the unseen ground 51 Mountain
fields still with unharvested potatoes 52 Seeing
his daughters kindly caring for their sick mother 53 Rain
falls on the discarded morning glory vines 54 A
few maple leaves in late autumn 55 Before
it rains, hurrying to finish some work 56 Not
knowing their name, flowers at the roadside 57 Pine
branches bent with snow 58 Near
the new leaves of grass buried in deep snow 59 Shoveling
soil after the ice has melted 60 Year
by year, more white hair 61 Neighbors
not such close friends 62 Though
not knowing the name of this insect 63 Sunny
and clear weather after a long absence |
| Acknowledgments
Ellen Biro for providing the Japanese
poems for translation |