It was a wonderful weekend for Shin-Ai students. Congratulations to the basketball and volleyball teams for your great efforts. I’m proud of you.

It was a good weekend for me too. I was invited for the second year to the tenth annual international art exhibition at Kan Ji An (観自庵) in Fukui. The Kan-Ji-An exhibition is a week long event in Takahama.

The central place is a traditional Japanese house (古民家), but there are other events and other venues. Many Japanese and foreign artists participate, and each year it gets bigger and bigger.

This year, I borrowed a small Japanese room and performed my poems. I was accompanied by my close friend Kanta on an acoustic guitar. It was really fun!

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One of my poems is a translation of a famous tanka by Wakayama Bokusui (若山牧水). This is the original:

白鳥は哀しからずや空の青海のあをにも染まずただよふ

This is my translation of it. It’s not a direct translation. I have changed the meaning of the tanka, so it’s a creative translation. Please read it, and please listen to the audio too.

White Birds 惟我獨純

White birds
White birds are birds inviolate
White cranes
They fly in sky blue high
And stay unstained

White birds are birds inviolate
White cranes
In sky blue high
皓皓之白
They fly
何蒙塵埃？
They stay unstained

White birds are birds in violet
White cranes
They fly over clouds
In the cloud cover
Cloud coloured lilac
Climb in the sunset rays

And stay unpurpled
Pretty cranes, paper white
Still untainted, stay unstained.