HCSHR 5:14 - Machi Tawara (Juliet Winters Carpenter translator) - Salad Anniversary

Salad Anniversary By Machi Tawara, Juliet Winters Carpenter, trans. New Yok, NY: Kodansha International, 1989. 0-87011-920-6. 203 pp. 

review by Elena Calvo

 

Sarada Kinenbi (the original Japanese title) “captured the hearts and minds of Japan, quickly becoming one of the nation’s all-time bestsellers, selling an actual 9 million copies worldwide.” “Although 30 years old, this little gem of a book remains universal in content.” Its 380 brief poems “focus on human foibles which explore our humorous, complicated and sometimes difficult relationships.”*

 

M. Tawara, “a shy, 26-year-old high school teacher living in Tokyo, became an instant celebrity after the publication of the book.” She observes the world in and around her with keen attention to detail and a gentle yet daring vision; with a candid, playful and fresh attitude throughout, “which balances the emotional depth she brings to her poems.” She “seeks to express the ‘swayings of the heart’ (kokoro no yure)” and “shyly admits that her collection is based not on a particular longing for any one person, so much as a general longing for human contact.”*

 

The day I left for Tokyo

Mother looked older by all the years

of separation ahead

 

Folding towels,

I wrap the smell of the sun—

perhaps one day I too shall be a mother

 

She offers endearing and symbolic details:

 

At the end of day they lie on my finger,

slightly clouded—

contact lenses

 

And with an intimate tone, reveals “universal yearnings”:

 

As I walk alongside Mr. Po,

faint stirrings of jealousy

in Mrs. Po

 

Nineteen eighty-five, the year I fell in love,

winds to an end—

in my room, just me and my dieffenbachia

 

The following whimsical one is among my favorites:

 

On the stage, tangled cords lie sprawled

like bars of melted music

fallen off the page

 

As for the translation, I invite you to ponder on the comparison translation of one of the poems, between Salad Anniversary and Tawara’s Chocolate Box website, where the differences in expression and feeling are quite significant:

 

Cherries, cherries, cherries—

they blossom and disappear,

and the park goes on, unaffected

 

Cherry, cherry cherry trees begin to bloom,

and bloom is over—in the park where

nothing (it seems) ever happened

 

Tawara conveys much with little, suggesting meaning beyond the words, with what is left unexpressed: the captivating concept of negative space, the essence of Japanese verse, Ma. A truly fascinating subject for future exploration

 

*****

*Quoted excerpts taken from the book’s jacket and Afterword (by Juliet Winters Carpenter, translator), and Wikipedia for Tawara’s website.

~ With thanks to Guy Simser for lending me the book and suggesting I do this review ~

 

Elena Calvo

Gusts 32 (fall/winter 2020), p. 28

 

HCShohyōran Note: the translator chose a three-line format for these tanka. The book is now available from Pushkin Press.  This review was originally published in Gusts.

 

*****

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