Coco: In Search of Home

島崎藤村、『落梅集』詩「椰子の実」英語訳

This post is going to be another unusual post because I’m going to introduce a Japanese song to give another perspective on the concept of “Home.” The poetry below is originally written by Toson Shimazaki (1872-1943). Romanticism in his poems has reached to a great height of ever-green lyricism. Combined with melodic elegance and innocence, nostalgia and reminiscences of the past are conjured up in a pleasant way. His attempt to create a longer verse in a modern style at the dawn of modern Japanese literature was a great success, leaving some poems nationally popular to the extent which some senior citizens still recite them on top of their head. This is considered to be one of the best poems representing the general sentimentality of Japanese people.

今回はいつもと違って日本語の歌を紹介します。これもまた「Home」という概念に違った見方を提供してくれます。以下の詩は、島崎藤村のものですが、そのロマンティシズムは瑞々しい抒情性を放っています。薫り高い青春の調べに乗って、在りし日の追憶と郷愁が甘く湧き上がるのです。近代日本文学の夜明けとともに彼が打ち出した近代的な抒情詩。それは成功を収め国民的人気を得たのです。諳んじることができる年輩者がいるほどです。感傷深い日本人の精神性を最もよく表している詩と言えるでしょう。

To many Japanese people, the concept of “Home” has been linked strongly to land. It is something you picture in mind when you are most away from where you were. It is something you have lost. It is something you will never get back. The sentimentality of Japanese people is characterized by these concepts of loss, unattainableness. Throughout history, people have shown keen sympathy for pathetic stories of tragic heroes and samurai warriors and people in exile.

多くの日本人にとって、「Home」という概念は土地と強く結びついています。自分がいたところから最も離れたときに心に浮かぶ何か。失った何か。戻ることのできないところ。日本人の感傷深さは、こうした喪失や手にできないものに対するのが特徴です。歴史を通じて、悲劇的英雄や故郷を離れざるをえなかった人々の哀しい物語に強い同情を誘われるのです。

椰子の実

[EN]

Washed ashore is a coco
From an island whose name I never know

Far away is your homeland
How many months your voyage’s spanned

Fully grown is your mother tree
With ever-growing palms forming a canopy

Sailing with no one but me
Nights have been spent on the restless sea

Clasped to my bosom
The coco reminds me how far-off I have become

Over the foreign waters sets the sun
Through my cheeks briny tears start to run

My longing will sail the form
And some day find its way home

[JP]

名も知らぬ遠き島より
流れ寄る椰子の実一つ
故郷の岸を離れて
汝はそも波に幾月
旧の樹は生ひや茂れる
枝はなほ影をやなせる
われもまた渚を枕
孤身の浮寝の旅ぞ
実をとりて胸にあつれば
新なり流離の憂
海の日の沈むを見れば
激り落つ異郷の涙
思ひやる八重の汐々
いづれの日にか国へ帰らむ

Series: In Search of Home

Pilgrim: In Search of Home

Prepared: In Search of Home

Away: In Search of Home

Coco: In Search of Home

Moon Palace: In Search of Home

Rappelle-moi: In Search of Home

Fear: In Search of Home

Who Knows: In Search of Home

Anchor: In Search of Home

Home: In Search of Home

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