Poets in wartime : Yasuhiko Shigemoto (Japan - Hiroshima)
Hiroshima o shirazaru
ko-ra yo ryùtó-e
Children -- floating lit paper lanterns not knowing Hiroshima
"Yasuhiko Shigemoto was one of those who as schoolboy received the blast of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Yet with courage and endurance he survived, and without bitterness began writing his haiku on a subject that will always haunt our minds."
James Kirkup (Former President of the British Haiku Society)
SPRING
Statute of A-bomb child she seems as if walking after a butterfly
(Sadoka Sasaki - a thousand of cranes)
How freely butterflies are flying about in the A-bomb Dome !
A-bomb blast center, the school excursion students tolling the peace bell
A-bomb blast center --- thousands of people to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom
Hoeing: these pieces may be A-bombed tiles
New blades of grasses breaking through the A-bombed earth !
Budding, this A-bombed tree still alive !
SUMMER
I am looking up wiping sweat off my glasses at the A-bomb Dome
Doing a die-in: grasping sand in sweaty hands
Rowing a boat: on the river bottom lie the A-bombed tiles
Gathering bones on Hiroshima's burnt earth under the blazing sun
A column of ants reminding me of a scene after the A-bomb dropping
The sunflowers turning their faces to the A-bomb Dome
How sad the summer grasses around the A-bomb Dome !
Typhoon -- the A-bomb Dome has endured it !
White shoes, don't come to Hiroshima wearing them
Closing my folding fan I approach the A-bomb Dome
AUTUMN
Looking up at the A-bomb Dome -- how high the heavens !
Hiroshima -- a water-melon offered to the A-bomb Dome
In the night darkness the A-bomb Dome lit up by a flash of lightning
A-bomb blast center -- visiting the mound of the unknown dead
The A-bomb Dome casting its dense shadow deep autumn
Rental bicycles -- every one of them is black Hiroshima Day
Hiroshima Day, offering sake to the A-bomb Dome
Hiroshima Day, rivers reminding me of agonizing cries
Hiroshima Day, no bones of my parents nor sisters nor brothers
WINTER
A winter crow caws and leaves the A-bomb Dome
Winter sun sinking the A-bomb Dome is much darker
At the A-bomb Dome this evening is beginning to freeze
The sun just rising, the A-bomb Dome casting its shadow in New Year's Day
Taking off my gloves I sign my name at the A-bomb blast center
My white breath -- I look up at the A-bomb Dome
The girl looking up at the A-bomb Dome in a New Year's kimono
My Haiku of Hiroshima
Yasuhiko Shigemoto
Keisuisha Co Ltd, Hiroshima, Japan, 1995
ISBN 4-87440-364-6
158 haiku
Contact : haiku@fureai-ch.ne.jp
Yasuhiko Shigemoto
18 Nabara Kabe-machi
Asakita-ku, Hiroshima 731-0215
Japan
More ...
http://www.worldhaikureview.org/pages/whcjapan1.shtml
WATASHI NO HIROSHIMA HAIKU II / MY HAIKU OF HIROSHIMA II, by Yasuhiko
Copyright Yasuhiko Shigemoto, 1995