Custom Japanese Calligraphy

The Art of Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
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My little dragonfly hunter.
I wonder where he is
off to today. ^[1]

Chiyojo

Cursive
 

Cursive Design

Cursive Design

Semi-Cursive

Semi-Cursive

(5 designs in catalog)

My little dragonfly hunter.
I wonder where he is
off to today. ^[1]

Translations of this poem tend to be either too literal or too detached. The last two lines are a single sentence that are simply spoken words - words you could imagine any mother saying a thousand times: "I wonder where he is off to today?" I think this is important to preserve in the translation and that it is essential to the beauty of the poem.

I imagine that Chiyojo is talking about an emotion that she must have felt a hundred times when her son was alive - that of simple motherly concern that her little boy was out somewhere, she didn't know exactly where, catching dragonflies. Indeed, the poem stops with the simple statement that she feels concern on where he might have gotten off to.

... and she caught herself, stopped herself. But for that instant it was as if her son were alive and had gone outside to play.

In my opinion she is capturing two things: the first is the obvious pride and seriousness that her boy felt for dragonfly hunting and the second is the concern she felt when he was outside and she would worry until he was again safely home. This was how she felt again for a moment ... it was , how she use to so often feel.

What is left unsaid by the poem is the instant after. When she realized all of this was gone.

Buchanan seems to take this position when he writes, "This poem was composed after the death of her little son, her only child, who was fond of hunting dragonflies. Though not described directly, the sorrow of the mother is beautifully and poignantly expressed." ^[2]

The whole point of the poem is not the moment the poem describes, but what we all know must come afterwards and it is simply heartbreaking. There is no more human a statement as Buchanan's, "Though not described directly, the sorrow of the mother is beautifully and poignantly expressed."

Lafcadio Hearn, on the other hand, takes this in a different direction where he conjectures that Chiyojo knows her son is dead and is thinking about her son in the after-life. He writes, "The verse is intended to suggest, not to express, the emotion of the mother. She sees children running after dragon-flies, and thinks of her own dead boy who used to join in the sport - and so finds herself wondering, in presence of the infinite Mystery, what has become of the little soul. Whither has it gone? - in what shadowy play does it now find delight?" ^[3]

In this poem, Chiyojo is a mother not a philosopher.

Henderson suggests the translation:

The dragonfly hunter -
today, what place has he
got to, I wonder ...  ^[4]

Rendered by Curtis Hidden Page as:

I wonder in what fields today
He chases dragonflies in play,
My little boy - who ran away. ^[4]

Blyth suggests the translation:

The little dragon-fly hunter, -
How far I wonder,
Has he gone today. ^[5]

Lafcadio Hearn suggest the translation:

Catching dragon-flies! ... I wonder where he has gone today! ^[6]

Buchanan suggests the translation:

Dragonfly catcher,
How far have you gone today
In your wandering? ^[7]

Calligraphy Notes:

1) For the designs I used hiragana for Dragonfly (tonbo). This is a very feminine poem and I think the cursive, and more so the designed cursive using hentaigana convey the emotions.

I hope in seeing this poem and the options for designs that you will be more receptive to the more artistic designs.

Translation Notes:

1) 蜻蛉釣り (tonbo tsuri) - composed of 蜻蛉 (tonbo) meaning "dragonfly" and 釣り (tsuri) meaning "fishing; angling". So the term literally means "Dragonfly fishing".

Today we use the expression "tonbo tori" catching dragonflies with a net. But, when this poem was written a line was used and the process was much more like fishing - so "tsuri" was used rather than "tori".

Lafcadio Hearn discusses this a bit on page 118 of A Japanese Miscellany (full text available online). This is a great read - did you know Japan use to be known as Akitsushima and was written with the kanji literally meaning "Island of the Dragonfly"? Akitsu being an ancient word for "dragonfly". The version in the dictionary has the same pronunciation, but different kanji ... too bad.

Notice that dragonfly is written in romaji as both tombo and tonbo. Technically Japanese does not have a single character "m" only an "n", but in this situation the "n" is often pronounced like an "m" and so the romaji reflects this. A dictionary would use tonbo.

Finally the "My Little" is not in the original Japanese. Chiyojo is talking about her little boy and this sentiment fits the poem. A more direct translation would be:

Dragonfly hunter.
I wonder where he is
off to today. ^[1]

2) 今日 (kyou) - means "today; this day".

3) は (wa) - Written as "ha" but it is read as "wa". This states "today" as the topic.

4) どこまで (dokomade) - "how far; to what extent".

5) 行った (itta) - past tense of the verb 行く (iku) meaning "to go".

6) やら (yara) - yara is a particle denoting uncertainty