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Feature: Hiroaki Sato, "Sumitaku Kenshin & His 'Free-Rhythm' Haiku"
Kenshin was born on March 21, 1961, in Okayama, west of Osaka, and was named Haruo (spring man) probably because that date in most years falls on the spring equinox in Japan. In September 1982 he started taking a correspondence course on Buddhism. In July 1983, when a normal Japanese at his age had just joined a corporation, he became a priest of the Pure Land sect of Buddhism, in a ceremony held at the Nishi-Honganji, Kyoto, and was given the name Kenshin (revealed faith). In February 1984 he was diagnosed with leukemia and hospitalized. In October he became a member of the “free-rhythm” haiku group Sôun (Cumulus). In 1985 his conditions improved enough for him to leave the hospital, and for a few months he engaged in promoting “free-rhythm” haiku. But soon he was back in the hospital and on February 7, of the following year, he died. After finishing junior high school Kenshin decided to become a cook, instead of going on to regular high school—a surprise to his parents. In Japan, high school, which corresponds to the tenth to twelfth-grade level in the United States, is still not part of compulsory education but most people attend it—92% in Kenshin’s days, 97% today. Instead, Kenshin found work at Okayama City’s community center and enrolled in a cooking school, which he attended in the evening. He soon befriended a café waitress five years older and made her pregnant. She had an abortion. Kenshin’s parents were forgiving and accommodating; they allowed the couple—a 15-year-old boy and a 20-year-old woman—to live together in their house. After eight months or so the woman left the house and, though Kenshin insisted that they continue, they eventually went separate ways. In October 1983, three months after he became a priest, Kenshin married a woman a year younger. Upon learning of their son-in-law’s diagnosis, early in the next year, the bride’s parents asked for a divorce for their daughter and got it, though she was heavy with his child. The child, a boy, was born in June. Kenshin’s parents, ever accommodating, took custody of him. Still, the baby boy lived mostly with his father, in his hospital room. Such an arrangement was possible because Kenshin’s sister, Keiko, worked in the hospital as a nurse, and Japanese hospitals allow—nay, require—a relative to become a partial live-in caretaker, which is the role Keiko also played. Faced with these predicaments, Kenshin turned to haiku, but his choice was as notable as his decision not to go to high school. Instead of the yûki-teikei, the 5-7-5-syllable composition incorporating a word or phrase which any of the saijiki (seasonal account) defines as a specifier of one of the four seasons and “the New Year,” he opted for the jiyû-ritsu (free-rhythm) haiku. which ignores not just the syllabic formation but the seasonal indicator as well (or, to be exact, regards inclusion of a seasonal indicator as accidental). This is worth noting because the latter, non-traditional variety, still attracts a very small minority—I have yet to learn how small—and is looked down upon by the traditionalists. Also, most haiku writers develop some familiarity with the form before making such a crucial decision. For example, Ogiwara Seisensui (1884-1976), who founded the magazine Sôun in 1911 and remained the dominant force in the “free-rhythm” movement, was versed in traditional haiku in his grammar school. But Kenshin is not known to have been a close student of haiku until his sudden conversion to the genre. Once he took up the genre, in any case, Kenshin read the haiku of some of the notables in the “free-rhythm” movement with dedication: Nomura Shurindô (1893-1918), Taneda Santôka (1882-1940), Ozaki Hôsai (1885-1926), Kaidô Hôko (1902-1940), and Ogiwara Seisensui. He is known to have been particularly taken with Hôsai. His well-thumbed copy of a Hôsai book, with scribbling on the margins, remains. Kenshin was in a hurry. With only two of his pieces accepted by Sôun, he put together a collection of his haiku, calling them shisaku (trial pieces) and published it at his own expense, in December 1985, in a cloth-bound edition. Other than that, Kaishi (Marine City), the new “new rhythm” haiku magazine begun in 1985, published a total of 90 pieces by Kenshin before his death. He left a total of 281 haiku. Among the recent books of and about Kenshin are: Zubunurete Inukoro (Soaking Wet a Doggie), a small collection of his haiku, with Matsubayashi Makoto’s illustrations; a Kenshin reader, which is a collection of essays by a variety of hands, a professional wrestler included; and Itsuka Mata Aeru (Someday We Can Meet Again), a short, inconsequential biography by the psychiatrist Kayama Rika. Chûô Kôron Shinsha published all three, in 2002. The largest published collection of Kenshin’s haiku appears to be the one edited by Muneta Yasumasa, published by Tachikaze Shobô, in 1996, which contains 152 pieces. The about 130 pieces that the “reader” lists are limited to those cited by the essay contributors. A selection of Kenshin’s haiku follows. Kenshin adhered to the one-line format, though he occasionally used the comma in an odd way. I have retained both features in the following translations. Aki ga kita koto o mazu chôshinki no tsumetasa That the autumn has come first the stethoscope’s coldness Asari, ukkari toji wasureta kuchi o tojiru The clam, closes the mouth it had absently forgotten to close Amaoto, yoru no ike fukaku ochiru The sound of rain, falls deeply into the night pond Amaoto ni mezamete yori furituduku ame Since waking with the sound of rain the rain has continued to fall Arukitai rôka ni sawayakana natsu no hi no sasu Into the hall where I’d like to walk shines the refreshing summer sun Utsumuite aruku machi ni kage ga nai Head down I walk the town with no shadow O-cha o tsuide morau watashi ga ippai ni naru Tea poured for me I fill up Omoide no kumo ga sono kao ni naru A cloud in my memory turns into that face Kage mo somatsuna shokuji o sihteiru My shadow also taking a shabby meal Gasshô suru te ga ka o utsu The very hands joined to pray slap a mosquito Kâten kurai wa jibun de to yandeiru It’s just a curtain I tell myself I am sick Ki no nuketa saidâ ga boku no jinsei A cider gone flat is my life Keikôtô no oto nomi no no shizukesa ni oru In the quietness of the sound of the phosphorescent lamp alone I am Sakazuki ni ureshii kao ga afureru The sake cup overflows with a happy face Sabishii inu no inu rashiku o o furu A lonesome dog wags his tail like a dog Sabishisa wa yoru no denwa no kôtaku Loneliness is the black sheen of a night telephone Jisatsu ganbô, meramera to moeru hi ga aru Suicide wish, there is fire burning in hissing flames Suterareta ningyô ga miseta karakuri An abandoned doll reveals its mechanisms Zubunurete inukoro Soaking wet a doggie Taikutsuna byôshitsu no mado ni ame wo itadaku In the boring hospital ward window I thank the rain Dakiagete yarenai ko no takasani suwaru I sit up to the height of the child I can’t lift in my arms Tachiagareba yoromeku hoshizora I rise to my feet and the starry sky reels Damatte tenjô o miteiru Silently I’m staring at the night ceiling Tsuki, shizukani kôrimakura no kôri ga kuzurezu The moon, quietly the ice in the ice pack collapses Tôku kara anata to wakaru shiroi burausu From the distance I can tell it is you the white blouse Nani mo nai poketto ni te ga aru The pocket with nothing in it has a hand Nenbutsu no kuchi ga guchi iuteita The mouth for prayers was grumbling Myaku o totta dake no heian na asa desu Took the pulse is all this halcyon morning Yume ni sae tsukisoi no imôto no epuron Even in my dream my caretaker sister’s apron Yurusareta shawâ ga asa no niji to naru The permitted shower turns into a morning rainbow Footnotes: 1. Japanese
names in this article are given the Japanese way, surname first. Sato’s
name is given the Occidental way. Hiroaki Sato has published over two dozen volumes of translations of Japanese poetry. His and Burton Watson's anthology, From the Country of Eight Islands, won the American P.E.N translation prize in 1983. He is also the author of One Hundred Frogs, Bashô's Narrow Road, and Right under the big sky, I don't wear a hat: The Haiku and Prose of Hôsai Ozaki. Mr. Sato is a past president of the Haiku Society of America (three terms). He lives in New York City.
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Sumitaku
Kenshin (1961-1987), who died, just before turning 26, of acute myeloid leukemia,
devoted
the last 20 months of his life to haiku.