Thursday 7 October 2010

Japanese Poem in Two Translations



 

 “Yo no naka wo
Nani ni tatoemu
Asaborake
Kogiyuku fune no
Ato no shiranami!”

by the priest Mansei (ca 720/730), also called Kasamaro

It's puzzling how two translations of a Japanese poem can differ so greatly:

1.
“If pressed to compare
this brief life, I might declare:
It’s like the boat
that crossed this morning’s harbour,
leaving no mark on the world”

(tr. Sam Hamill)


 2.
“To what shall I compare
This world?
To the white wake behind
A ship that has rowed away
At dawn!”

(tr. Arthur Waley).


I wonder which is closer to the original?



On Japan:

“Trees possess souls. An old tree is almost as greatly revered as an old grandmother.

The Japanese think it a sin or a crime to cut down an old tree”.


The Living Past, Ivar Lissner. Penguin edition, 1965. 



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