Subject
QUERY: Si-Rin, An Old Japanese Master (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. Akiko Nakata of the Japanese Nabokov Society supplies the
answer to Oleg Dorman's question below. NABOKV-L thanks her for her
expertise.
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QUERY:
From: Oleg Dorman <dorman@cityline.ru>
This image is drawn and written by a poet Sirin. Below the butterfly we
can read a Japanese hokku. In fact some of us can. Not me, frankly
speaking. Would somebody translate it please?
Oleg Dorman.
[SEE ATTACHED BUTTERFLY IMAGE]
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RESPONSE & Translation,
From: Akiko Nakata <akikonakata@email.msn.com>
The rough meaning of the hokku in Japanese is: I hope I will never lose my
child heart which follows a butterfly.
According to Andrew Field, it is possible that Nabokov met Emperor
Hirohito who was visiting Trinity at the time. The author of the hokku
could be him??? Field's _VN_ (p. 38) gives an alternative translation: "I
want the youthful curiosity/To chase butterflies/Forever!"
Best regards, Akiko Nakata
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answer to Oleg Dorman's question below. NABOKV-L thanks her for her
expertise.
-----------------------------------------
QUERY:
From: Oleg Dorman <dorman@cityline.ru>
This image is drawn and written by a poet Sirin. Below the butterfly we
can read a Japanese hokku. In fact some of us can. Not me, frankly
speaking. Would somebody translate it please?
Oleg Dorman.
[SEE ATTACHED BUTTERFLY IMAGE]
----------------------------------------
RESPONSE & Translation,
From: Akiko Nakata <akikonakata@email.msn.com>
The rough meaning of the hokku in Japanese is: I hope I will never lose my
child heart which follows a butterfly.
According to Andrew Field, it is possible that Nabokov met Emperor
Hirohito who was visiting Trinity at the time. The author of the hokku
could be him??? Field's _VN_ (p. 38) gives an alternative translation: "I
want the youthful curiosity/To chase butterflies/Forever!"
Best regards, Akiko Nakata
------------
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