Bilingual--English and Japanese

Description:     This book presents translations, by poet and translator, Amelia Fielden, of 263 tanka by Mariko selected from her large collection, Will, which was published in Tokyo in 2005. Will was dedicated to Mariko’s mother, who passed away in 2003. Although On This Same Star is in no sense a diary, and contains much beautifully imaginative poetry, the overarching theme of the collection is Mariko’s life. As she originally wrote in her afterword to Will, the three years during which she composed these tanka, were challenging ones. The ‘cosy atmosphere’ in which she had been living, was greatly affected by some life-altering happenings: the only child of a sole parent, Mariko lost the beloved mother with whom she had dwelt most of her life; she divorced her husband; and the son, also an only child, left home to go away to university.

 

 

 

Many tanka in On The Same Star are of an elegiac nature, such as this moving juxtaposition of the everyday with grief of a loved one:

            tonight as I
            hull kidney beans
            the stone
            engraved with her name
            is growing cold

 In others the poet’s sense of aloneness is expressed in almost surreal imagery:

           wondering whether
           further along this gentle curve
           are life and death
           I see nothing but empty plains
           In the train window

 There is also gentle humour, here and there:

            “keep a dog
            keep a parrot,”
            they say –
            I will keep a young man
            a skinny young man

“Her tanka are nakedly honest, personally crafted, and intensely lyrical. … Kitakubo has a complex mind, and her preoccupation with death is expressed in complex metaphors … (she also) confronts what’s happened with a determination to make the best of it … Formally Kitakubo’s technique is rich and varied. Kitakubo’s style is accessible due to the scrupulousness of Fielden’s translation. She is careful to retain the original phrase order and line pattern wherever possible … It’s a handsome volume that’s a pleasure to read. And pleasure, Kitakubo assures us, is an important part of our natural life. For despite the grief expressed in these pages, the first tanka of the book establishes a basic truth, putting the rest into stark relief

‘to go and gaze
            at stars, how lovely –
            none of us
            is born
            for suffering’

 Dave Bacharach Ribbons (Tanka Society of America Journal) summer 2006.

 

“Her tanka poems call to mind Yosano Akiko and Fumilo Nakajo … like the aforementioned poets, she speaks about her feelings … She carefully, perhaps even spiritually, choses her words, crafting a poem that leaves a reader wondering and thinking.

… Kitakuo’s sense of rhythm is refreshing and worthy of study.

… Good translators are few and far between, especially when it comes to translating the Eastern mindset into the Western mindset. Amelia Fielden is one of the best … together Kitakubo and Fielden have given the English-speaking world a rare treat … This is a special book. I recommend it with no reservations”.

Robert D Wilson Simply Haiku

 

Ordering information is available from the poet at jerushya2005@yahoo.co.jp.  The price is $15 US.  In the United States, On This Same Star may be ordered from the museum store at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, CA, www.pacificasiamuseum.org or by contacting the museum manager, Ms. TaiLing Wong at tailingwong@yahoo.com. Or you can call 626/449-2742 and at the prompt select "gift and bookstore."

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