Eihei Dogen Kigen Translations
These are my modern English translations of Eihei Dogen Kigen, a master of the Japanese waka poetic form. Eihei Dogen Kigen (1200-1253), also called Dogen Zenji, was born in Kyoto, Japan. He was a Japanese Buddhist monk and a prolific poet, writer and philosopher. He was also the founder of the Soto Zen sect (or Sotoshu) and the Eiheiji monastery in early Kamakura-era Japan. In addition to writing Japanese waka, Dogen Kigen was well-versed in Chinese poetry, which he learned to read at age four.
This world?
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane’s bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Seventy-one?
......
These are Michael R. Burch's modern English translations of the ancient Japanese poems of Ono no Komachi, who wrote tanka (also known as waka) and was renowned for the beauty of her verse as well as for her physical beauty. Komachi is best known today for her pensive, melancholic and erotic love poems. Her bio follows the poems.
If fields of autumn flowers
can shed their blossoms, shameless,
why can’t I also frolic here —
as fearless, wild and blameless?
—Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
I had thought to pluck
the flower of forgetfulness
......
Fukuda Chiyo-ni
Fukuda Chiyo-ni (1703-1775) was a justly celebrated Japanese poet, haikuist, painter and calligrapher of the Edo period. Also known as Kaga no Chiyo, she began writing haiku at age seven and was popular throughout Japan by age seventeen. In her early fifties she became a Buddhist nun, shaved her head, adopted the name Soen (“Escape”), and took up residence in a temple.
These are Japanese haiku by Fukuda Chiyo-ni in modern English translations by Michael R. Burch
Where possible, I have included the original Japanese text.
Because morning glories
held my well-bucket hostage
......
Eihei Dogen Kigen Translations
These are my modern English translations of Eihei Dogen Kigen, a master of the Japanese waka poetic form. Eihei Dogen Kigen (1200-1253), also called Dogen Zenji, was born in Kyoto, Japan. He was a Japanese Buddhist monk and a prolific poet, writer and philosopher. He was also the founder of the Soto Zen sect (or Sotoshu) and the Eiheiji monastery in early Kamakura-era Japan. In addition to writing Japanese waka, Dogen Kigen was well-versed in Chinese poetry, which he learned to read at age four.
This world?
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane’s bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Seventy-one?
......
Fukuda Chiyo-ni
Fukuda Chiyo-ni (1703-1775) was a justly celebrated Japanese poet, haikuist, painter and calligrapher of the Edo period. Also known as Kaga no Chiyo, she began writing haiku at age seven and was popular throughout Japan by age seventeen. In her early fifties she became a Buddhist nun, shaved her head, adopted the name Soen (“Escape”), and took up residence in a temple.
These are Japanese haiku by Fukuda Chiyo-ni in modern English translations by Michael R. Burch
Where possible, I have included the original Japanese text.
Because morning glories
held my well-bucket hostage
......
These are Michael R. Burch's modern English translations of the ancient Japanese poems of Ono no Komachi, who wrote tanka (also known as waka) and was renowned for the beauty of her verse as well as for her physical beauty. Komachi is best known today for her pensive, melancholic and erotic love poems. Her bio follows the poems.
If fields of autumn flowers
can shed their blossoms, shameless,
why can’t I also frolic here —
as fearless, wild and blameless?
—Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
I had thought to pluck
the flower of forgetfulness
......