Dandelion Soul: Poems by Sakamura Shinmin (坂村眞民 1909-2006)

Poems by Sakamura Shinmin (坂村 民 1909-2006) Translated by Ronald S. Green Coastal Carolina University Sakamura Shimin (坂村 民 1909 - 2006) was the pen name of a Japanese Buddhist poet whose given name was Takashi. His poems speak of a universal way of living in harmony and giving sympathy to ones fellow beings. He is said to have been a healing poet. Sakamura was born in Arao City in the Kumamoto Prefecture of Japan. After going to Kumamoto Prefecture Tamana Junior High School, he graduated from Kogakkan University, a private school connected with Shintō in Ise, Mie prefecture, Japan. He moved to Tobe, a town located in Iyo District, Ehime Prefecture, Japan and set up a residence he called "Tanpopodo" (Dandelion Hall). It was his daily routine to get up at 1 o'clock every morning to offer an early prayer at the nearby Shigenobu River. Many of his poems are easy to understand and everyone from elementary school students to business workers loved them. His poem “If you pray, flowers will bloom” is particularly well loved and it has been translated into many languages. The following translates the first 23 poems from his collection titled Dandelion Soul (Tanpopo tamashii). タンポポ魂 Dandelion Soul Even if trampled even if bitten off it does not die nor wither that deep-rootedness is thus always blooming towards the sun that brightness in this way, I will make my soul 踏 食い 死 枯 根強 太陽 until yesterday and today too it is trying to become a new color rainy day hydrangea flower わ When I was young my mother was always saying these words From around when was it for me too that it was as if I was able to do likewise on such occasions and one by one my flowers miraculously were opening 咲 わ 魂 あ 形 い 花 い う い心 い 花 あ う う い色 う 日 い 新 雨 あ If you pray, flowers will bloom If you pray flowers will bloom 向 明 Hydrangea Flower Round and round it is trying to become a thing of good shape soft hearted hydrangea flower い い 花 念 花 念 花 い い 母 わ い い え う う わ 花 い い Because Life doesn’t happen a second time1 Because life doesn’t happen a second time let’s pour infinite love on even a single flower blossom let’s tilt an ear of no-mind toward even a single bird’s voice Because life doesn’t happen a second time do not step as if trampling to death even a single cricket let’s have a heart and somehow perhaps we will be joyful Because life doesn’t happen a second time let’s contact someone even if only one person we should certainly be responsive let’s write to someone Because life doesn’t happen a second time first, for those who are nearest let’s do as much as possible even if poor let's connect richly in heart Because life doesn’t happen a second time think of the miracle when happening to meet even the dew of the dewflower2 let’s stop in our steps and take a look い人生 い人生 一輪 無限 花 愛 い 一羽 無心 う 鳥 耳 声 う い人生 一匹 い う い人生 多 う 一 便 返 書 必 う い人生 一番身近 者 う 貧 い 豊 接 あい 思い 足 う 四季 星々 わ あ い Because life doesn’t happen a second time about the world without war that we strive to realize let’s compose such a poem even if only a single verse and when I am dead I will leave it behind for the sake of young people let’s continue to write い人生 戦争 い世 実現 努力 ういう詩 一篇 多 作 う わ 死 あ い い人 大願 1 う い人生 Because life doesn’t happen a second time in the rising sun and the setting sun the round moon and the moon galloping away in each of the four seasons that are touched by the light of stars let’s wash and clean our hearts 2 う う い人生 ぼ 日 い月 日 月 う In the 1980, the Japanese Ministry of Education choose this poem to be included in textbooks used in middle school. Commelina communis, commonly known as the Asiatic dayflower. It gets its name from the fact that its blooms only last one day. that great hope 書 Birds Must Fly Birds must fly people must live like a bird flying in the angry waves of the sea we must live in the world of chaotic uncertainty If they can break through the darkness birds instinctively know how to arrive at the island of light people are like that too just a little ways ahead the darkness ends you must know there is light the morning sun greeted the new year and gave me a proposition birds must fly people must live 鳥 if there is no change it is evidence that you have not yet become earnest earnest love earnest work ah human only once 飛 鳥 飛 人 生 怒 濤 う 海 飛 鳥 う 混沌 世 生 鳥 本能的 暗黒 突破 明 島 着 う 人 一寸い 闇 あ 知 新 い年 迎え 日 わ 与え 鳥 飛 人 生 Earnest Become earnest and the world will change you will change う 本気 世界 自 変わ 変わ 変わ 本気 本気 本気 い証拠 恋 ああ 人間一 catch on to this Now 今 大 い 一 一 今 The events of those times The events of those times you mutually should not forget two people the times of hard struggles 朝 本気 い The important thing never before nor in the future each breath each breath’s presence now 知 吸 吸 あ あ あ 時 時 互い忘 誓いあ い 時 い the times that were good the times when you were conceited you should always remember when first becoming a father and when first becoming a mother those tears of joy 喜 互い 袋 新 入 失 語 あ あい あい あい 人 過 数々 日 一 い blossoming 咲 Dew 世界 露 露 教え い いい いい いい う Wish い 花 一 咲 終わ 一年草 一途 触 生 う Everything Shines Shines shines everything shines there is not one thing that does not shine 時 う 病い 桃 Only one flower is made to bloom then it will end I want to live that annual plant’s wholeheartedly proclamation う 桃咲 peach Dew is something that teaches it is good to be a round it is good to be transparent it is good to be unobtrusive it is good to be an impermanent い い 慰 悲 Peach Blossoming Illness provided an opening to yet another world 時 思いあ 時 い 思い出 う 初 父 初 母 あ 嬉う 涙 mutually you should be as if still putting new things in a bag that has become old at times when you were lost you should always talk together be consulted together be sad together be distressed together as two people, come to pass through the events of many days あ い い いい what does not shine from itself receives light from another and shines い い 受 Voices of the Stones Firmly people of the spirits just so, from behind were there calling out I turned around and for tens of thousands of years in the same place being motionless were stones 石 声 うう 声 い 何万年 い 石 Anvil poem Suspended on the anvil called “kotsuza”3 if we continue to grind and polish, we will become the same shape as all Shōbōgenzō Zenshin Keiteki4 Beat, beat beat to the heart’s content I am silently beaten up only beat I am beaten up For existence For the truth For making a leap For freeing myself う 兀坐 言 琢磨 皆同 正法眼蔵坐禅箴啓迪 ( うぼう う 思う存 黙 存 実 飛躍 脱却 Beat, beat has a good meaning I think until beaten いい気味 思う What is resignation? What is pressure? What is merit? What is neglect? 忍従 力 価値 軽視 If tired from beating perhaps I understand if crushed by beating わ 何 何 何 何 3 Kotsuza is the practice of sitting completely still. 4 Guide to the Needle of Zazen in the Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma あ あ あ あ う 型 い ) perhaps I am enlightened う Beat, beat therefore,gather the beats beat until you feel sick only beat, beat 気 A Single Path Trees, grass, and humans where might they be different? They are all the same As much as they can they are looking at trying to live and sometimes they even seem to be greater than humans they can bloom they can produce fruit they complete themselves compare that with humans they are things that end without having accomplished one thing Study trees Learn from grass For me, I can talk about it I will also walk a single path 一本 木 What is Precious is the Soles of the Feet 人間 う う 同 い 生 う い う 花 実 い 彼等 偉い 人間 え思わ 咲 完成 人間 何一 い 終わ 木 学 草 習え わ 言い 今日 一本 道 歩い Unity I pray for unity (cooporation) no matter what even on matters of difference where ever there is an agreement detect it and mutually we should grasp our hands together 草 道 They do not know a person’s lifespan and are connected to the dirty dwellings of one’s life in a silent role the soles of the feet are what counts 行 ユニテ わ う ユニテ 一致 一致 あ 見出 互い 手 握 合 う 尊い 足 1 What is precious is not in the head it is not in the hands it is the soles of the feet い 尊い 頭 手 足 裏 一生人 一生 黙々 努 あ 知 い処 果 接 裏 あ for efforts coming to fruition Hey, people of spirit do work that is like the soles of the feet become human beings like the soles of the feet 2 Light comes out from the top of the head this is still no good 足 裏 数え 足 足 裏的 裏的 人間 頭 出 Light comes out from the forehead this is still regrettable 出 い Light comes out from the soles of the feet one who is like that is truly a great person 足 裏 出 う 方 偉い人 本当 Flower For a flower after scattering there is no sorrow all that remains is the joy of having bloomed wholeheartedly When the strength to go on living dissappears There is no day to think about the time of death the strenght to go on living will dissappear at that time I visit a temple alone, I go and sit in front of the Buddha I go and sit until the strength appears to think of tomorrow あ 花 花 散 悲 あ い 途 残 一い 喜 生 死 生 わ 仏陀 力わ 出 咲い 力 う 思う日 力 寺 あ 訪 前 坐 明日 思う 坐 Saddness Always saddness should not be written about by everyone sadness should not talked about by everyone saddness is the root that strenghtens us saddness is the trunk that supports us saddness is the flower that makes us beautifu saddness should not always be dried up sadness should always be profound sadness should always be tasted fully い い 書い い 話 い わ 強 わ 支え わ 美 い 枯 い 湛 い 噛 根 い 幹 花 い え い い い い Dining Table5 Everything is a lifestyle do-over Five years after the revision, I finally bought a dinning table About tomorrow 's meal they’ll say,“It’s delicious!” “It’s my pleasure,” satiated children Early and waiting, it is unusually pleasant the meal isn’t finished yet I am listening to my mother about where we will sit Around to my left, Rieko, Sayoko, my wife, and Makiko is the order in the smell of warm soup there is a delicious pickled daikon that was used the children are already lining up their chopsticks ah, I bought a dining table is it happy too? although poor, in poverty they become touchingly fat children it is a sweet scene 飯台 何 引 あ 生活 直 五年目 飯台 買 御飯 い い 子供 目 珍 う 楽 う 御飯 い 自 処 母親 い 私 左回 梨恵子佐代子妻 美子 順 あ 温 い 匂 い い あ あ 子供 う箸 い ああ飯台一 買 う 嬉 い 貧 い 貧 い 子 涙 い い い あ 揚 Early Dawn Confusion6 For me, each day the thing I like most is the early dawn confusion that is momentary For me, that confusion is thrown into my body heaven and earth become one I hear the voices of akuma (demons) I hear the voices of kami (gods) I hear the voices of asura I hear the voices of the buddhas and bodhisattvas sitting motionlessly heaven cries out earth howls at that time the ghost world and the underworld 7 are without differentiation men and women are not different 5 6 い わ い あ い う い あ わ あ え え あ え ぼ わ え い う あ い い う い い This poem was written at the end of the war. The actual table is on display at Engakuji temple in Kamakura, the head temple of the Engakuji branch of Rinzai Zen. 7 い There is no kanji in the poem, just hiragana phonetic script. Meikai and yūkai, literally the dark world and the hidden or vague world. human and animal have no discrimination Everything in confusion is tied together without saddness without suffering the road of life overflowing with life Ah, for me in each day the feeling of the number one thing I live for is that early dawn confusion that is momentary う い あい い い あ ああわ い い い う い い い あ From Here from here, heads bow from here, greetings are made from here, hands join together from here, apologizes are done from here, voices call out if everything is done from here there is no quarreling things go harmoniously from here, if you call out hey also from there too, hey is answered if a baby cries a mother comes bounding everything both natural and human can be completed from here, we should get closer to the Buddha too how pleasant that might be あ あい 手 合わ 詫わ 声 争い ーい ーい あ あ 坊 え 泣 母 自然 う 人間 い 仏 近 喜 い う う About What it is to Live About what it is to live it is to love to love wife and children and to love from the gut even those who have enmity for you it is to love 生 生 愛 妻子 愛 愛 敵 あ 者 愛 About what it is to live it is to have affection for all living creatures on both birds of the fields and plants too it is to pour eyes of love About what it is to live it is to not lose human beauty no matter what it is in the eyes it is to be the owner of tears of warm love Ah about what it is to live it is to penetrate the truth of love 生 生 い 野 愛 生 鳥 眼 生 人間 失わ あ 持 ああ 生 愛 貫 草木 美 主 い目 い愛 涙 あ あ