Haiku Travelogue (4)

 

Haiku Travelogue

 “80 years after World War II” (4) 

by Hidenori Hiruta

 

A Narrow Road to Peace

 

Second Japan-Russia Haiku Contest

Haiku Lectures, Talk, and Report in Vladivostok

 

2013

The Second Japan-Russia Haiku Contest

   Akita International Haiku Association held the 2nd Japan-Russia Haiku Contest and accepted haiku submissions from May 1st to June 30th.

   Each haiku writer was only allowed to submit one haiku, and there were three categories: Japanese, Russian, and English. To write and submit a haiku, writers had to choose one of the three languages: Japanese, Russian, or English.

   As a result, 624 haiku were submitted.

 

Japanese Haiku Category

304 haiku were submitted for the Japanese haiku category from 4 countries: Japan, Russia, Romania and Ukraine.

選者　

武藤鉦二・舘岡誠二・和田仁・手島邦夫・工藤一紘・石田冲秋・

五十嵐義知・内村恭子・矢野玲奈

 

秋田県国際俳句協会賞（AIH Association Award）

 

ミモザ咲く森に小さな埴輪館

和田留美（秋田県）　

 

mimosa blooms

in the woods

a little Haniwa house

 

Rumi Wada (Akita prefecture, Japan)

 

JAL財団賞（JAL Foundation Award）

 

月涼し右手でつくる望遠鏡　 

大池梨奈（大阪府立吹田東高等学校）

The moon is cool

made by my right hand

the telescope

Rina Oike (Suita East Senior High school,Osaka, Japan)

 

Russian Haiku Category

62 haiku were submitted for the Russian haiku category from 8 countries: 　

Russian, Japan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Lithuania and Serbia.

 

Judges: Alexander Dolin, Aida Suleymenova

 

秋田県国際俳句協会賞（AIH Association Award）

 

Шум прибоя

стихает на миг…

Ну давай, сверчок!

                      Андреев　Алексей　（Россия）

波の音

一瞬止まった

今やあなたの番、コオロギよ！

                  アンドレーヴ　アレクセイ　（ロシア）

 

JAL財団賞（JAL Foundation Award）

С неба на землю

или с земли на небо –

вьются пушинки…

 

Анастасия（Россия）

 

空から地へ

あるいは地から空へ－

渦巻いている雪片．．．

 

アナスタシャ　（ロシア）

 

English Haiku Category

258 haiku were submitted for the English haiku category 39 countries: Japan, Croatia, USA, India, Romania, Serbia. Germany, New Zealand, France, Poland, Russia, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Indonesia, Philippines,  UK, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Mongolia, Montenegro, Bangladesh, Belarus, Colombia, Ghana, Hungary, Jamaica, Macedonia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

 

Judge: Fay Aoyagi（青柳飛）

 

秋田県国際俳句協会賞（AIH Association Award）

how little

I know of bird calls

distant thunder

 Kala Ramesh (India)

 なんて分かりにくいんでしょう

鳥の鳴く声が

遠雷

                         カーラ　ラメシュ　（インド）

 

Prize-winners of Honorable mentions in Vladivostok

 

Date: October 12, 2013

Venue: The Library of Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia

 

Haiku Lectures and Talk in Vladivostok, Russia

 

Date and Time: Saturday, October 12, 2013, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM

Venue: Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia

Purposes:

1) To create meaningful opportunities for citizens and students studying Japanese language and literature through lectures on Japanese literature and haiku poet Ishii Rogetsu, and research presentations and reports on Japanese language learning that focuses on haiku and international haiku.

2) The aim is to increase interest in haiku in Russia and to further increase the number of haiku fans.

Organizer: Akita International Haiku Association

Cooperations:

Vladivostok Japan Center, Vladivostok Japan Center's Japanese Culture Club, Primorsky Krai Government, Far Eastern Federal University, Yosano Akiko Memorial Literature Society

 

講演

「玄関」と「観音様」は英国にはない：遠藤周作文学を英訳してみて

マーク・ウィリアムズ（国際教養大学副学長）

　

Lecture:

"Genkan" (Entrance Hall) and "Kannon" (Buddhist Statue of Mercy) are Not in the UK: Translating Shusaku Endo's Literature into English

Mark Williams (Vice President, Akita International University)

 

   First of all, Dr. Williams showed the following haiku to commemorate President Nakajima.

Dr. Williams is not particularly knowledgeable about haiku—he read Matsuo Basho's "Oku no Hosomichi" (The Narrow Road to the Deep North) as an Oxford student, and was introduced to the haiku of Kobayashi Issa, a famous poet from neighboring Nagano Prefecture, while working in Gunma Prefecture, Japan—but since then, his main research focus has been 20th-century Japanese novels, particularly postwar novelists with Christian themes, such as Endo Shusaku.

However, after Dr. Williams returned to Japan in 2011 to work at Akita International University, two events sparked his interest in haiku.     First, he was appointed Honorary Vice President of the Akita International Haiku Association, which reaffirmed his recognition of the importance of understanding haiku in order to better understand Japanese culture.   Second, he lost Dr. Nakajima Mineo, founder and first president of Akita International University. Akita International University was founded on Dr. Nakajima's ideal of "international education," so his sudden death in February of this year came as a great shock to everyone.                  Shortly before Dr. Nakajima's funeral, his wife showed him a haiku that she had received from a poet friend. The Japanese haiku reads as follows:

 

敬はれ

凛と飛翔や

雪の槍

 

Mrs. Nakajima then asked him to translate this haiku into English. He realized just how difficult it is to translate just 17 letters into English, and at the same time, his admiration for those who translate poetry suddenly grew stronger. He also began to sympathize with poets like Robert Frost, who have always preached that poetry is "untranslatable" (although this is not always the case). Anyway, he somehow managed to translate this phrase as follows:

'His revered spirit

is now soaring in awesome heights.

The shards of snow'.

 

He hopes that this translation captures at least some of the complexity of the haiku in the original Japanese.

He began by saying this, and as he is not a haiku expert, he based his talk on his experience translating Japanese literature, many of which he has produced in collaboration with haiku translators.

Translation is, of course, the act of rewriting an original text. Regardless of the purpose, every rewriting reflects a particular ideological form and poetic sentiment, and therefore manipulates a text to function in a particular way in a particular society.

Dr. Williams went on talking further as below.

Because translation is an essential element of intercultural exchange, the study of the act of translation is an important component in the study of intercultural interaction.

However, despite the subconscious decisions implied by the act of translation itself, the translator must make a series of conscious decisions before putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

The translator must choose between leaving the author as intact as possible and moving the reader toward the author, or leaving the reader intact and moving the author toward the reader.

   In technical terms, this is a choice between "domestication" and "foreignization." The former involves transforming a foreign text into the cultural values ​​of the target language, while the latter involves exerting "ethnic transgression" pressures that motivate the reader to embark on the source culture, that is, that makes the readers want to visit the source culture.

Antoine Berman, a critic who has devoted himself to studying the decision-making process of whether to adopt the "domestication" or "foreignization" approach, points out that every translation involves at least 12 changes.

Based on Berman's paper, Dr. Williams reflected on his own experience translating Shusaku Endo's novels, "Foreign Studies" and "The Girl I left behind," and talked about these 12 ‘deforming tendencies’ of translation  in the order that Berman lists them: rationalization, clarification, expansion, ennoblement, qualitative impoverishment, quantitative impoverishment, destruction of rhythms, destruction of underlying networks of signification, destruction of linguistic patterns, destruction of vernacular networks or their exoticization, destruction of expressions and idioms, and effacement of the superimposition of languages.

　 Dr. Williams talked clearly, vividly and persuasively with proper examples from his own experiences of translating Shusaku Endo's literature into English. His lecture was also of great help and of much value to the translation of Japanese haiku into the other foreign languages.

In addition, his lecture was translated into Russian and shared on the website of the Japan Center in Russia.

 

講演　　 

俳句の国際化と石井露月研究の進展

工藤一紘（秋田工業高等専門学校非常勤講師）

Lecture:

The Internationalization of Haiku and the Advancement of Ishii Rogetsu Research

Kazuhiro Kudo (Part-time Lecturer, Akita National College of Technology)

 

On March 25, 2014, Akita Sakigake Shimpo (秋田魁新報, Akita Sakigake Shimpō) published the article on the lecture by Mr. Kazuhiro Kudo in their newspapers as follows.

 

Here is part of his lecture shown from the article in the newspapers.

 

Russian translation of haiku lectures

 

   The haiku lecture consisted of two lectures, a research presentation, and a report, all of which were delivered with Russian interpretation. What impressed us most was that the Russian translation had been prepared by a volunteer team of over a dozen undergraduate and graduate students. My paper alone was over 10,000 characters long, and included over 20 haiku by Ishii Rogetsu.

   Associate Professor Suleymenova Aida, a Russian of Central Asian descent and a researcher of Yosano Akiko, supervised the translation. When I gratefully expressed my gratitude, she firmly replied, "The Russian translation is for our own study." I was deeply moved when I saw the humble gaze behind Aida's glasses.

 

Ishii Rogetsu & Anton Chekhov

 

   In my lecture, I pointed out that the dramatic leap in Rogetsu's haiku style was achieved through his confrontation with life. As an example, I gave a haiku titled "Ferry Terminal" written while on a house call in the middle of a heavy snowstorm: "Those crying out / all have their lives / even a blizzard."

   Olga Smarokova, assistant director of the Japan Center, expressed strong empathy, saying, "Rogetsu is the link between the culture of Vladivostok in the Far East and Japan (Akita)." She then compared him to the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov and stated clearly, "Rogetsu will become a symbol connecting Russia and Akita." Perhaps she was recalling Anton Chekhov's dedication to fighting the Great Famine of 1891 and the cholera epidemic that occurred the following year. After parting ways with Shiki, Tsuzuki returned home to a village without a doctor and was welcomed as a village doctor. However, what awaited him was the poverty-stricken villagers and the rampant spread of infectious diseases such as dysentery and cholera.

 

Students on the new campus

 

   The entirety of Russky Island, known as the venue for APEC, was the campus of Far Eastern Federal University. During my courtesy visit to the university, I was fortunate to observe a Japanese language class and interact with the students. Of the 41,000 students, 200 are majoring in Japanese language, literature, economics, and history. I was touched by the students' cheerful and proactive attitude toward their studies. The students hope to work for Japanese-related companies after graduation, but the reality is that there are very few Japanese companies in Vladivostok. Despite this, the students were diligently studying the curriculum, which requires Japanese and English.

 

 

研究発表　日本語教育と俳句－授業での取り組みと今後の可能性－

相場いぶき（国際教養大学日本語プログラム非常勤講師）

　

Research Presentation:

Japanese Language Education and Haiku - Classroom Approaches and Future Possibilities

Ibuki Aiba (Part-time Lecturer, Japanese Language Program, Akita International University)

 

Although Mrs. Ibuki Aiba is not a haiku expert, she is very interested in

using haiku in Japanese language education. She spoke about the potential of haiku in Japanese language education, introducing several classroom examples.

She first gave a brief introduction to haiku education at Akita International University (AIU), then explained what haiku means in Japanese language education. She then introduced her own efforts in classroom examples 1 and 2, and finally spoke about future possibilities.

Haiku education at AIU is primarily taught in the "Japanese Literature" class, taught by Professor Alexander Dolin, a native of Russia.

Since all classes at AIU are taught in English, international students generally compose haiku in English, while Japanese students compose haiku in both Japanese and English, and then present them in class. The purpose of the class is to learn about haiku and, through that, to further their understanding of Japanese literature.

 

Here are some of the student works.

     This is a haiku written by a student studying at AIU from Germany.

This ink-wash-like painting is also her work.

It's wonderful.

 

This is a haiku written by a Japanese student.

The haiku is written vertically in Japanese, with its English translation.

The photographs is beautiful, too.

 

      This is a very rare case, but it's a haiku written by a foreign student who　can speak Russian. What do you think?

      Haiku itself is the subject of study in Japanese literature classes, but the role of haiku in Japanese language education is a little different.

The purpose of Japanese language education is to improve learners' Japanese language ability, and haiku is merely a means to that end.

Therefore, it can be said that what is important for us Japanese language teachers is for learners to acquire excellent Japanese language ability, rather than for them to become excellent haiku poets.

 

First, Mrs. Aiba introduced three practical examples of partial instruction, along with some common concerns that learners have.

 

The first is about the sense of rhythm in Japanese. A beat is a unit of pronunciation represented by a single kana character, also known as a mora.

In Japanese, each kana character is roughly the same length (isochronism), but for many learners, pronouncing words while maintaining the length of the beat seems quite difficult.

Therefore, she used the haiku pattern of "5-7-5" to acquire a sense of rhythm in Japanese and practice pronunciation that is closer to that of the Japanese language.

 

      There are a few things to keep in mind.

First of all, the short sounds "ya," "yu," and "yo," known as "yo-on," make up one mora when combined with kana in the I-row.

For example, "gyu/u/nyu/u" look like they have six characters, but when broken down by the length of the sound, they make up four mora.

On the other hand, the special mora - the short "tsu" sound, the glottal stop ("n") and the long vowel (a long sound) - each make up one mora.

Many learners tend to shorten the length of special mora due to the influence of the pronunciation of their native language.

Conversely, if you can properly maintain the length of special mora, your pronunciation will sound more Japanese-like.

      The next topic to learn is onomatopoeia (onomatopoeic words and mimetic words).

Japanese is said to be a language that makes heavy use of onomatopoeia, and you'll often see them not only in everyday life but also in manga and anime these days.

However, understanding their usage and meaning seems to be difficult for learners.

      Seasonal words (kigo) are also an item to study.

Haiku must always include one seasonal word.

However, the sense of the seasons that seasonal words express is by no means universal.

For example, the image of winter that a Russian person has is very different from that of an Australian person.

Understanding that each person's sense of the seasons, and therefore their view of nature and aesthetic sense, differs will enable a deeper understanding of different cultures.

 

This is an example of an intermediate-level Japanese reading class at AIU. The students are nine international students (two Taiwanese, two Norwegians, one Australian, one German, and three Americans), and they have been studying Japanese for between one and a half and three years.

     First, as a pre-reading activity, we took time to learn about the rules and background knowledge of haiku. Since most of the students had no experience studying haiku, we explained the 5-7-5 format, main seasonal words, kireji (cutting words), and the history of haiku.

 

      When asked "Do you think haiku is useful for learning Japanese?" 6 people answered "Yes," 3 answered "Neutral," and 0 people answered "No."

Many of the people who answered "Neutral" gave their opinion that haiku falls into the category of art, history, or culture.

On the other hand, some of the people who answered "Yes" said that they learned not only the language but also Japanese history and culture.

A major challenge for the future will be whether to completely separate Japanese language education from specialized education (art, history, and culture), or to integrate them.

 

Next, we asked, "Do you think haiku is useful for learning Japanese?" 6 people answered "Yes," 3 answered "Neutral," and 0 people answered "No."

The reason given by many of those who answered "Neutral" was that they believe haiku falls into the category of art, history, or culture.

On the other hand, some of those who answered "Yes" felt that haiku allows them to learn not only the language, but also Japanese history and culture.

A major challenge for the future will be whether Japanese language education and specialized education (art, history, and culture) should be completely separated, or if they should be integrated.

 

報告　　　国際俳句について

　　　　　　蛭田秀法（国際俳句交流協会会員）　

 

Report:

International Haiku

Hidenori Hiruta (Member of Haiku International Association)

 

     I hope that haiku will board the Trans-Siberian Railway at Vladivostok Station and spread further and further. As the haiku carrying peace boards the Trans-Siberian Railway, prayers for peace will alight at each station along the line, and the prayers will reach the local people, leading to the realization of peaceful living all over the world.

  

１．ウラジオストクでの俳句紹介

 

 

    As part of the activities under the Comprehensive Friendship Agreement concluded between Akita Prefecture and the government of Primorsky Krai, Russia, in March 2010, a "Cultural Exchange through Haiku" event was held in Vladivostok from September 25 till October 2, 2011. Haiku was introduced to children, students, and members of Japan Center tea ceremony club.

   A seated tiger statue welcomes travelers on the street. The tiger is a symbol of Primorsky Krai and is used on the state flag and coat of arms, symbolizing the region's culture and history.

 

(1)   Haiku lessons at Eastern School

 

Interpreter: Ilya Dyakov (Far Eastern Federal University Student)

 

Kindergarten: Two Japanese Elective Classes

 

・Teaching the word "haiku".

・Presenting a picture drawn by Russian children from the ‘Chikyuu Saijiki, Seasons on the globe（地球歳時記）’ published by the JAL Foundation, along with one haiku in both Japanese and Russian.

 

・Teaching the word and game **「Rock, Paper, Scissors」**.

・Introducing postcards made from haiku paintings and poems by international students at Akita International University.

 

 

・Playing **「Rock, Paper, Scissors」** with a child next to you, and the winner can choose their favorite postcard.

 

Elementary School (7-9 year old pupils): One elective Japanese class

 

・Presenting several drawings and haiku by Russian children from the JAL Foundation's ‘Chikyuu Saijiki, Seasons on the globe（地球歳時記）’ in Japanese and Russian.

・Presenting haiku and haiku drawings by elementary school students in Akita Prefecture.

 

・Presenting postcards made from haiku and haiku drawings by international students from Akita International University.

・Haiku writing in Japanese and haiku writing in Russian, and presentation.

(2)          Haiku Workshop at Far Eastern Federal University School of Regional and International Studies

Aida Suleymenova, associate professor of FEFU and President of the Yosano Akiko Memorial Literature Society, and Ilya Dyakov, a FEFU student interpreter, showed Hidenori around FEFU School.

 

①   About haiku

 

    Students are interested and pleased with haiku that are humorous or ironic,

and Basho's haiku was well received and elicited laughter from the students.

② About haiku in foreign languages

③ About haiga and haiku

④ Introducing haiku and haiku drawn by junior high school students in Akita Prefecture. Recitation practice, translation into Russian, and presentation.

⑤ Recitation practice in Japanese using postcards made from haiga and haiku drawn by international students at Akita International University, translation into Russian, and presentation.

⑥ Writing haiku in Japanese

⑦ Writing haiku in Russian

⑧ Presentation

 

(3)          Talk at the Vladivostok Japan Center

 

   Hidenori Hiruta was treated to tea at the beginning of the talk, "Haiku and the Tea Ceremony." He talked about how the tea ceremony seeks the true present within the microcosm of the tea room.

 

    He talked about how haiku seeks the eternal present within a microcosm.

２．日露俳句コンテスト

 

   The Japan-Russia Haiku Contest was held in May 2012 as part of the cultural activities under the Comprehensive Friendship Agreement between Akita Prefecture and the Primorsky Krai government, as an event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Akita City and Vladivostok City, and as 140th Anniversary of Ishii Rogetsu's Birth. Haiku forums were also held in both cities in September of the same year.

   This year 2013, the 2nd Japan-Russia Haiku Contest was held, with a new English category added.

 

    HIA President Akito Arima concluded in the symposium on November 28, 2009, and predicted as below.

   Haiku will spread out to the world more because of its brevity and its coexistence with nature. More and more young people will get interested in haiku for its brevity, and enjoy writing and reading haiku. More poets will share haiku with each other in their blogs on the Internet. Global haiku contest or festival will increase on the Internet too.

   As Dr. Arima predicted, the Japan-Russia Haiku contest has been held as a global haiku contest.

   Last of all, here is a photo of a party who visited Vladivostok from Akita.

 

 

Hidenori Hiruta

Akita International Haiku network

蛭田　秀法

秋田国際俳句ネットワーク