Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
?
Need Help w/ Japanese Poetry?
I began researching Japanese mythology and poetry in order to compose a waka/tanka [5-7-5-7-7 syllable-lined poem]
I have received some assistance from a foreign exchange student I met, but would like 2nd opinions and further editing/revision.
It is a simple poem based on the God and Goddess Tsukuyomi [moon god] and Amaterasu [sun goddess]
English concept:
The morning sun shines
And in the evening she wanes
At night she is gone
The moon has come out to play
He wonders where she has went
Rough Japanese translation:
朝日照る - - - - - Asahi teru
夕方に衰え - - - Yūgata ni otoroe
夜にいなく - - - - Yoru ni inaku - - - - - - [to be read/said as "Yoru ninaku"]
月来る遊んで - - Tsuki kuru asonde
- - -
As you can see, I would like the odd lines to rhyme, and the even lines to rhyme; this means that the 5th line needs to end w/ -u.
I figured that trying to translate "He wonders where she has went" directly would require too many syllables, and so I am trying to use the phrase "Where did you go?" - which can then indirectly mean "He wonders where she has went."
I have found a few phrases
どこに行く - - - - - - - - doko ni iku?
どこへいきましたか - - doko e ikimashita ka?
どこに行ったか - - - - - doko ni itta ka?
I was wondering, for the sake of a 7-syllable ending w/ -u, if this would poetically make sense
どこに行った行く - - - - Doko ni itta iku?
Please, I am asking for your input, ideas, changes for grammar.
- Thank You
1 AnswerPoetry7 years ago