A Collection of Tales
物語集

Modern Tanka by Ishikawa Mina


English translations by The Workshop in Japanese to English Literary Translation, Department of Contemporary Literary Studies, The University of Tokyo, Faculty of Letters

Main editor: Theodore Goossen
Editors:Masumi Kameda, Surovyi Viacheslav

July 2007

The following 45 poems were originally published on 45 dark blue cards the size of name-cards (meishi). They can thus be read randomly, in any order desired.

-1-


食べ損ねたる手足を想ひ山姥が涙の沼を作つた話

*

A story of a mountain witch* making a marsh of tears
Mourning for the arms and legs
She failed to devour

*Yamamba(山姥)　


Yuichi Tsukada　塚田雄一

-2-


美術館館長Ｔが遺したる小さな鍵についての話

*

The story about a small key
Which the art museum curator T
Left behind.




Nakajima Kaoru　中島薫

-3-


遊園地のお化け屋敷に本物の狸が住んでゐるとふ話

*

In the haunted house of a fairground
Lives a real raccoon
So the story goes




Shimojima Akira　下島彬

-4-


捨ててきた左の腕が地を這つて雨の夜ドアをノックする話

*

A story of a discarded left arm
Creeping along the ground, one rainy night
Knocking on the door




Marina Fujita　藤田真理奈

-5-


朦朧と口に運びし野葡萄があなたの指に変はるまでの話

*

This is a story of the wild grape
I lifted to my mouth in a haze
Turning into your finger




Ray Asaba　浅羽麗

-6-


銀ぶちの眼鏡をかけて二人ゆく悪のみち華やかなる話

*

A flowery story of two villains
With silver rimmed glasses
Who walk the path of evil




Satoshi Kimura 木村慧

-7-


免許証に記載されたる住所から遠く離れて語れる話

*

A story which can only be told
When far away from
The address on one's driver's license




Kumiko Kondo　近藤久美子

-8-


乱闘が始まるまでの二時間に七百ページ費やす話

*

A story of seven hundred pages
Consumed in the two hours
Before a brawl




Toshiyuki Fukushima　福島利幸

-9-


失ひし言葉を捜す旅路にてななたび落とす命の話

*

The tale of a life lost seven times
On a search
For the missing words




Shun'ichiro Akikusa　秋草俊一郎

-10-


咽喉に穴をあけた子どもがひうひうと音たて歩く砂漠の話

*

The story of a desert
Where a child with a hole in his throat
Walks with a wheezing sound




Masami Yatagai　谷田貝雅美

-11-


空腹のあまり選手を喰らひたる鬼監督の凄い歯の話

*

The story of a manager's dreadful teeth
His excessively empty stomach
And the young player he devoured




Beata　Kowalczyk　ベアタ・コワルチェク

-12-


菜箸をひら、とあやつり赤鬼をつまみあげたり　昔の話

*

An ancient tale
Of a red ogre flipped this way and that
By a long pair of chopsticks




Viacheslav Surovyi　ヴィヤチェスラヴ・スローヴェイ

-13-


午前二時のロビーに集ふ六人の五人に影が無かつた話

*

A story of six people
Assembling in a lobby at two a.m.
Five without shadows




Jun Maeda　前田純

-14-


覗きたる鏡の中に夜が来て山姥と化すむすめの話

*

The story of a young woman looking into a mirror
Who turns into a mountain witch*
When the night comes

*Yamamba(山姥)


Nao Shibata 柴田奈央

-15-


「発車時刻を五分ほど過ぎてをりますが」車掌は語る悲恋の話

*

"Excuse me, our departure is already delayed 5 minutes…"
A tragic love story
Told by a conductor




Viacheslav Surovyi　ヴィヤチェスラヴ・スローヴェイ

-16-


上野にて一組の靴を分け合ひし人と再びまみゆる話

*

A story of encountering someone
With whom I once shared a pair of shoes
In Ueno Park




Masumi Kameda　亀田真澄

-17-


下駄箱に未熟な手紙突つ込んで帰つた日から始まる話

*

A story that begins the day
A clumsy letter
Is thrown in her shoe locker




Toshiyuki Fukushima　福島利幸

-18-


くすぐつたいかゆいこそばいこそばゆい誓ひのことば詰まつた話

*

A　story about taking a vow
Filled with ticklish,
Itchy, wriggling words




Kumiko Kondo　近藤久美子

-19-


身体中にココアぬられて替へたてのシーツ一枚だめにする話

*

A story of ruining
A fresh sheet with cocoa
My body was dripping with it




Tomoko Takeda　武田 智子

-20-


輪郭の見る間に薄れ消えゆくをひしと抱けども消えたる話

*

A story of something I clung to
But whose silhouette faded
Even as I watched




Ohsumi Ryo　大隅亮

-21-


冬の夜のいがぐりあたまの子供らが口を開いて聞き入る話

*

The tale of a winter' s night,
And burr-headed boys
Listening with mouths agape




Louise Hyatt　ルイーズ・ハイアット

-22-


伸びてくる口ひげを剃りあごひげを落とし一冬過ごせる話

*

The story of a man who shaved
His mustache and beard
To make it through the winter




Viacheslav Surovyi　ヴィヤチェスラヴ・スローヴェイ

-23-


コーヒーを初めて見たるばばさまが毒ぢや毒ぢやと暴るる話

*

Poison! Poison! cried the grandmother
Falling into a tizzy
A story of seeing coffee for the first time




Masumi Kameda　亀田真澄

-24-


栗ご飯の栗の中よりふるさとの民話聞こえて、さびしき話

*

A poignant tale of hearing folk tales from home
Told by the chestnuts
In one's chestnuts rice.




Dobre Luciana Marilena　ドブレ・ルチアナ・マリレナ

-25-


おとぎ話のなき村にして猪のこども十匹煮て食ふ話

*

A story of boiling and eating
A wild boar's ten children
In a village without fairy tales




Hiroki Nishibayashi　西林宏樹

-26-


上官が独り占めした乾パンを闇夜にまぎれ盗み出す話

*

A story of stealing the biscuits
Hogged by a high-ranking officer
Under the cover of a moonless night




Viacheslav Surovyi　ヴィヤチェスラヴ・スローヴェイ

-27-


桃饅頭八人前を平らげて機嫌を直す赤鬼の話

*

The story of a red ogre,
Who gobbled up eight portions of peach buns
To cheer himself up




Viacheslav Surovyi　ヴィヤチェスラヴ・スローヴェイ

-28-


眠る犬のしづかな夢を横切りて世界を覆ふ翼の話

*

A story of the wings that enfold the world
Cutting across the quiet dream
Of a dog




Masumi Kameda　亀田真澄

-29-


愛憎の憎にかたむく酒宴にて胃に流れ入るソーダの話

*

A story of sipping sparkling soda
At a drinking party of love and hate
Inclining towards hate




Maiko Hoshino　星野真衣子

-30-


みぞれ味と聞いて買ひたる飴玉が吹雪味とは　困つた話

*

A story of the frustration
Of buying "sleet-flavored" candy
Only to find it "blizzard-flavored"




Maiko Hoshino　星野真衣子

-31-


林檎売りの真似をしてゐる恋人を窓のうちより眺むる話

*

A tale of gazing out the window
At one's beloved
Pretending to sell apples




Louise Hyatt　ルイーズ・ハイアット

-32-


諦めたそばから文字の色褪せて今はすつかり読めない話

*

A story now totally unreadable
The ink fading
The moment it was abandoned




Reirui Ri　李凌叡

-33-


傷みたる物たちを詰め貨物車が西へ西へと走つた話

*

The story of a wagon,
Which runs westward, ever westward
Crammed with damaged stuff




Viacheslav Surovyi　ヴィヤチェスラヴ・スローヴェイ

-34-


誰か知らないかほんとに誰も知らないのか黒い林檎の話

*

Doesn't anyone know,
Is there really no one who knows
The tale of the black apple




Shun'ichiro Akikusa　秋草俊一郎

-35-


犯人の好物はパフェ　綿密なる調査ののちにわかつた話

*

The criminal loves parfait
A story uncovered
After a scrupulous investigation




Ray Asaba　浅羽麗

-36-


霊長類最後の夕べ沸騰する空を見てゐる老婆の話

*

The story of an old lady
Looking at the boiling sky
On the primates' last evening




Joyce Lim　ジョイス・リン

-37-


瞬く間に手足が生へて本といふ本が地球を逃げ出す話

*

A story of books growing limbs
In the blink of an eye
And escaping from earth




Tomoko Takeda　武田 智子

-38-


胸にびつしり迷彩模様張り付いてもう故郷へは戻れぬ話

*

A story in which one can't go home
Because of the camouflage pattern
Sticking to one's chest




Taketo Matsumoto　松本岳人

-39-


腰までの沼を渡れば大切な乾パンふやけ不味くなる話

*

A story about wading a waist-deep bog
And the precious biscuits
That went soggy and bad




Chiho Koinuma 鯉沼智保

-40-


騙ス気ハナカツタノダと叫びつつ谷底へ落つる男の話

*

The story of a man who plunged
To the bottom of a ravine
Shouting IDIDNTINTENDEDTOCHEATONYOU!




Risa Yokota 横田里砂／Masumi Kameda　亀田真澄

-41-


旅立つ日　コートの中で温めた小さな鍵を手渡す話

*

A story of handing over a small key
Warmed in my coat
On the day of my departure




Yuichi Tsukada　塚田雄一

-42-


陸と陸しづかに離れそののちは同じ文明を抱かざる話

*

A story of two continents that separated silently
Never to share
The same civilization




Satoshi Ikeno　池野智史

-43-


手袋をしまふシーンのうつくしくそこばかり読み返した話

*

A story of reading and rereading
A single beautiful scene
Which tells how gloves are folded




Masumi Kameda　亀田真澄

-44-


山姥の元を逃れし若者が地雷にて脚を失ふ話

*

The story of a young man
Who lost his leg to a landmine
Escaping from a mountain witch *

*Yamamba(山姥)　


Beata Kowalczyk ベアタ・コワルチェク

-45-


大空に雲が記してゆきたれど真偽のほどはわからぬ話

*

A tale clouds wrote in the sky
Although we cannot tell
If it is fact or fiction.




Shun'ichiro Akikusa　秋草俊一郎