09/09 : Nine Japanese Female Poets / Nine Heian Waka

Poems by Sei Shōnagon, Fujiwara no Teishi, Murasaki Shikibu, Kōkamonin no Bettō, Izumi Shikibu, Koshikibu no Naishi, Ukon, Daini no Sanmi, and Empress Shōshi; translations, original essays, and drawings by Naoko Fujimoto 

This collection translates Japanese poems from the 7th century to the 12th century.

According to the translator, "I’ve selected seventeen female poets from this period when Japanese women’s literature flourished. Famous writers from the era include Sei Shōnagon (The Pillow Book) and Murasaki Shikibu (The Tale of Genji). I’ve introduced some lesser-known female poets to this collection. Their writing enormously influenced not only Japanese literary history, but also literature around the world.

Many Japanese female writers were nameless back then. They were commonly referred to as “Someone’s Mother” or “Someone’s Daughter.” Even Murasaki Shikibu is a nickname people created after her death. The date of Sei Shōnagon’s death is unknown because she left the palace when her empress lost political status. However, they indeed left beautiful, delicate works. These comprised early Japanese literature.

Waka compacts much information in a short form – words with double meanings, unfamiliar phrases, habits foreign to non-Japanese speakers, and hidden historical backgrounds – so it would be hard to understand these authors’ full intent by simply reading direct translations. Therefore, my project has three approaches:

1) I create a short essay before each waka translation. The short essay, written in the Haibun style, supports the waka and the author’s background. Those paragraphs are not translations. I also provide a historical context to help readers understand the waka translation on a deeper level.

2) My translation applies a visual narrative. It is a text collage to maximize translating the author’s intention. In addition, written waka was common for house decorations back then, so the line breaks varied from piece to piece and were not historically five lines per stanza, which is a widely published format in English-speaking countries. I aim to restore some of the freedom of form in which these original works were made.

3) The phonetics of the original waka are one-of-a-kind. I would like readers to experience this. Therefore, I added a Romanized sentence along with the original Japanese composition."

Acknowledgements:

These translations have been generously supported by a full scholar-ship from the Bread Loaf Translation Conference, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and numerous publications, including Asian American Writers' Workshop, Arkansas International, Cable Street, Circumference, Columbia Journal, Crazyhorse, and Kyoto Journal. The original poems (7th-12th centuries) are now part of the public domain.

Original drawings by Naoko Fujimoto.

About the translator:

Naoko Fujimoto was born and raised in Nagoya, Japan. Her poetry collections are "We Face The Tremendous Meat On The Teppan" (2022), winner of C&R Press Summer Tide Pool Chapbook Award, "Where I Was Born" (2019), winner of the editor's choice by Willow Books, "Glyph:Graphic Poetry=Trans. Sensory" (2021) by Tupelo Press, and four chapbooks. She is a RHINO Poetry & Tupelo Quarterly translation editor, and Working On Gallery curator. She is a Bread Loaf Translation full scholarship recipient and a 2023 Visiting Teaching Artist at the Poetry Foundation. Her full-length translation collection, "Of Women," is forthcoming from Tupelo Press.

Toad Press, 2024
English, 
Softcover, 21 pages
139mm x 215mm