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Zach asked in Arts & HumanitiesPoetry · 7 years ago

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 Answer

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  • ?
    Lv 5
    7 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    You mean your final goal is to compose the poem in Japanese in 57577 form, based on the meaning you presented in English?

    If so, I would write like this:

    日は昇り Hi wa nobori

    夕に衰え Yuu ni otoroe

    夜に去る Yoru ni saru

    月来て問えり Tsuki kite toeri

    日はいずこへと Hi wa izuko e to

    In the part of 575, I made it as a sentence so that the action of the Sun ends and in the next 77 part another thing happens. 月来て問えり is using the old Japanese. 問えり means "he asked," in modern Japanese 問うたtoota/問いましたtoimashita。

    日はいずこへと also uses old Japanese. いずこ is the old/formal word for どこ and it is used mainly in literature today.

    Hope this helps.

    Source(s): native speaker who sometimes makes English Haiku :)
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