かけがえのないふたりの日常

昨日の明け方、不覚にも
父が死んでしまった夢を見た
原因はわからないが、突然の死だった
やけに気丈に振る舞う母の横で
私は慌てふためいている
「もうお父さんに会えないの？？？
もっともっと話したいことあったのに！」
やり場のない切ない思いに、夢の中で
居ても立ってもいられなくなっていた

目が覚めて、隣で眠っていた彼の名前を呼んだ
さっき見た夢の話をしているうちに
涙が止まらなくなっていた
彼は黙って私を抱きしめながら
また深い眠りについた
そうやって私達は結局
午後２時までベッドの中にいた

今朝はすさまじい喉の痛みで目が覚めた
隣にはやっぱりいつもの彼が眠っていて
のどが痛い、と私が言うと
ごそごそっとベッドから出て
はちみつ入りのハーブティーを淹れてくれた

そうして二人で雨の降る街を歩いて
お医者さんに診てもらって
薬局でおくすりをもらって
スーパーでしょうが湯を買って帰って来た
私は風邪だから大好きな銭湯に
今夜は行けないよって言ったら
彼はちょっぴりさびしい顔をして
私にキスを二度して、まだ降る雨の中
ひとり出かけて行った

ふたりで生活を始めて早５ヶ月
なんでもない日々が本当は
幾千もの奇跡でできていることを
わたしたちは知っている

こうして枕をならべて眠るのも
クリームシチューをすするのも
夜中にアイスバーを頬張るのも
中野の銭湯に続く細い夜道を
手をつないで歩くのも
駐車場の野良猫に餌をあげるのも
銭湯のテレビにかじり付くのも
マックでカフェラテを頼むのも
スーパーでポイントを貯めるのも
プラスチックのゴミを出すのも
みんなみんな、すこぶる大切な
かけがえのないふたりの日常

生きるうた ー A new translation of "Song for living"

Song for living

1
In an open field
I'm standing all by myself

Without knowing I betrayed someone
I betrayed someone

In an open field
I'm standing by myself

2
I had some stomach trouble
Ate nothing for two days and
The morning of the third day
I drank half a glass of milk

Because it was so delicious
Because it was so delicious...
I ended up crying

3
A friend was talking about his dreams
With his eyes sparkling
I'm bored hearing that, I said
He was shocked and 
Sank into silence

I should have talked about my own dreams too
Even if I'd be telling a lie

4
The shoes I bought five years ago
I threw them away today
After I did that
Even though I can't wear them anymore,
I started to feel like I could still wear them

And my new favorite shoes 
Somehow became odious to me 

5
I'm looking at the sea
When I'm looking at the sea
I become quizzical about myself looking at the sea 
I feel like asking, "Who are you?"
And for some reason
I think about a dinosaur's face 
That scary and yet nostalgic face

— Shuntaro Tanikawa
(Translated by Naoko Ishikura Smith)


『由利の歌』より

生きるうた

                        谷川俊太郎

１
原っぱに
私はたったひとり立っています

気づかずに
私はひとを裏切りました

原っぱに
私はひとり立っています

２
おなかをこわしたのです
二日間なにも食べず
三日目の朝
牛乳をコップに半分飲みました

あんまりおいしかったので
あんまりおいしかったので ー
私は泣いてしまいました

３
友だちが夢の話をするんです
目を輝かせて
聞いている私は退屈なんです
そう言ったらびっくりして
黙りこんでしまいました

私も私の夢の話をすればよかった
たとえうそでも

４
五年前に買った靴を
今日捨てました
そうしたら
もうはけないのに
まだはけるような気がしてきて

お気にいりの新しい靴が
なんだか憎らしくなってしまいました

５
海を見ています
海を見ていると
海を見ている自分が不思議です
あなただれ？ってききたくなって
それから何故か
恐竜の顔を思い出します
こわいくせになつかしい顔を

A new translation of "Crazy woman's song" 気違い女の唄

Crazy woman's song — for Fubuki Koshiji

II Piano

Sound softly, piano
Sound gently, piano
Piano, piano, pianissimo
Don't ruin my memories

Sound softly, piano
Sound gently, piano
Piano, piano, pianissimo
My sweetheart left me

Don't make a sound, piano
Don't make a sound, piano
Piano, piano, pianissimo
I can't find my own heart
I can't find my own heart

—Shuntaro Tanikawa
(Translated by Naoko Ishikura Smith)

気違い女の唄　—　越路吹雪さんのために

II　ピアノ
そうっと鳴ってピアノ
やさしく鳴ってピアノ
ピアノ　ピアノ　ピアニシモ
私の思い出こわさないで

そうっと鳴ってピアノ
やさしく鳴ってピアノ
ピアノ　ピアノ　ピアニシモ
私の恋人私を捨てた

もう鳴らないでピアノ
もう鳴らないでピアノ
ピアノ　ピアノ　ピアニシモ
私の心がみつからない
私の心がみつからない

—谷川俊太郎 詩選集2 『由利の歌』より 1977

A new Japanese translation of "Rain" by Raymond Carver

Rain

                             Raymond Carver                  

Woke up this morning with

a terrific urge to lie in bed all day

and read. Fought against it for a minute.  

Then looked out the window at the rain.

And gave over. Put myself entirely

in the keep of this rainy morning.

Would I live my life over again?

Make the same unforgiveable mistakes?

Yes, given half a chance. Yes.

「雨」

              ＜石倉直子訳 (Translated by Naoko Ishikura)＞

一日中ベッドに横たわって読み物に耽りたい、

という凄まじい衝動とともに、今朝目が覚めた

少しの間、それに抵抗した

それから窓の外の雨に目をやった

そして腹をくくって

この雨降る朝の掌(たなごころ)に完全に身を任せることにした

私はもう一度同じ人生を送ろうとするだろうか？

幾つもの許されない同じ過ちを犯すだろうか？

そう、僅かでもチャンスがあれば、そうするだろう

------------------

So, what do you think??? I usually translate from Japanese to English, and this is my very first attempt of translating poetry from English to Japanese. It was a lot more fun than I expected it to be!! I love it. Especially I got excited when I translated this line:
"Put myself entirely in the keep of this rainy morning"
「この雨降る朝の掌(たなごころ)に完全に身を任せた」
I felt like genius!! :) I love the word, たなごころ. It's so exquisite.

After I finished it, I searched for other available translations, and I found two, by Emiko Kuroda and by Haruki Murakami (of course, right???) Here is the site. Please compare the three translations if you're interested. Needless to day, Murakami's translation is good, but I still prefer mine! :) 

Dive into the rain

Woke up to the sound of pouring rain this morning. Another typhoon is passing through Tokyo, it seems. The previous typhoon brought autumn here, so I'm hoping this one will bring early winter and possibly snow in town. Well, probably not, but my favorite season is undoubtedly getting near.

I love a rainy morning like this. I feel like I have so much more freedom than I do on a sunny day. Why is it the case, I wonder? I guess it's because I'm definitely not an outdoor person and secretly and sometimes even proudly an introvert. I can be a hermit without guilt, so my plan for the day is to dive into the world of poetry.


Rain

                             Raymond Carver

Woke up this morning with
a terrific urge to lie in bed all day
and read. Fought against it for a minute.

Then looked out the window at the rain.
And gave over. Put myself entirely
in the keep of this rainy morning.

Would I live my life over again?
Make the same unforgiveable mistakes?
Yes, given half a chance. Yes.

A new translation of "Being in love" (あいしてる)

あいしてる

　　　　　　　　　谷川俊太郎

あいしてるって　どういうかんじ？
ならんですわって　うっとりみつめ
あくびもくしゃみも　すてきにみえて
ぺろっとなめたく　なっちゃうかんじ

あいしてるって　どういうかんじ？
みせびらかして　やりたいけれど
だれにもさわって　ほしくなくって
どこかへしまって　おきたいかんじ

あいしてるって　どういうかんじ？
いちばんだいじな　ぷらもをあげて
つぎにだいじな　きってもあげて
おまけにまんがも　つけたいかんじ

Being in love

                Shuntaro Tanikawa (trans. by Naoko Ishikura)

What is it like to be in love?
It's like sitting side by side, looking into each other's eyes, entranced
Even yawning and sneezing seem enchanting
And feeling tempted to lick

What is it like to be in love?
You feel like showing it off
But you don't want anyone to touch it
And you want to put it away somewhere

What is it like to be in love?
It's like you want to give away your most precious plastic model 
And then give away your most precious postage stamp
And on top of that, you want to give away a comic book too

Interview tomorrow!

Just in case you're wondering, I'm still here in Tokyo, surviving and 'swimming' every day. Since I posted "How to 'swim' in Tokyo", I have applied for three jobs. Two teaching positions that I unfortunately didn't pass and one coordinator position for which I'll have an interview tomorrow. It's not a teaching position but the job descriptions actually sound like it would perfectly fit the paths I've taken (because as a matter of fact, I really wasn't always a teacher—I have many faces and 'drawers'), and it's a job at one of the very best universities in Japan, so I would be thrilled if I can get this job. We'll see. 

This evening I went to buy a suit, because I didn't have one. I could have gone to a store to get one earlier but I heard from this university only two days ago that I passed the first screening and it wasn't until then I knew about the interview. I went to the shop where Mike got his suit the other day. People at the shop remembered me and asked me what the occasion was this time. I told them that I'll have an interview tomorrow morning. They helped me and let me try on many suits. I ended up being there for 2 hours (!) and picked this dark grayish "skinny fit" suit, which was actually the very first suit I tried on today.

Other than looking and applying for jobs, I've been almost religiously translating poems by Shuntaro Tanikawa. I feel like I'm sort of addicted to it. It feels that the day literally doesn't end until I translate a poem or two. I have received many nice comments and encouragements from my readers, and I'm planning on translating more. Tanikawa doesn't use much metaphor and his words seem simple on the surface, but the world of Tanikawa is indeed very unique, peculiar and profound, so when it comes to translating his poetry, it's very challenging. He sometimes makes up words and some of his poems are quite musical, so I find it very difficult to transfer the color and taste to another language. Especially when the poem has some rhythm in Japanese, it's almost always impossible to give the same rhythm to the English version. For example, I'm trying to translate his poem『あいしてる』and it's very rhythmic and musical in Japanese. Here is the first stanza:

あいしてるって　どういうかんじ？
ならんですわって　うっとりみつめ
あくびもくしゃみも　すてきにみえて
ぺろっとなめたく　なっちゃうかんじ  

Each line has a quadruple measure, and when you read it aloud, it's so rhythmic that naturally makes you want to nod your head. I've been doing a staring contest with this poem for two days now, trying to figure out how to make the English version as musical as the original.

The first line could be, How does it feel to be in love? or What is it like to be in love? Either would work because it has a quadruple measure, just like the original, but I haven't come up with the rhythmic translation for the second line. It will be my homework for this weekend!

So, like I said, I will have an interview tomorrow morning. I have to leave the house by 7:30am or so, I need to turn in early tonight. Before that, a hot bath sounds good to me... Night, world! Until next time...