蜩の鳴きつづきをり光堂 （2020.9.27 神奈川新聞次点入選）
In Hikarido
the cicada’s song lingers on
through the evening hours
(September 27, 2020 Kanagawa Shimbun runner-up)
(Review) Probably Hikarido of Chusonji Temple in Oshu Hiraizumi. This haiku, in which the slanting sunshine can be felt in the “higurashi cicada” makes us think of a deeper shadow than Basho’s haiku “samidare wo hurinokositeya Hikarodo”. I feel more deeply the flow of time of ups and downs. (Takanobu Matsuo)
旅順とは同じ緯度なり棗の実 （2020.12.12 読売入選）
jujube fruit’s sweet charm
grows in Lushun’s latitude
a treat to behold
The 2nd verse of ” song of Water Shiying Conference” written by Nobutsuna Sasaki, which begins with a contract to open a castle in Lushun, is sung as a single jujube tree in the garden, and Lushun’s jujube suddenly became famous. Jujubes can be easily gained from cuttings, so after the Russo-Japanese War, they were transplanted to areas associated with Nogi. The town where I was born and raised was the headquarters of the division where Nogi became the first division commander, and naturally the jujube was transplanted from Lushun. The photo is a large jujube tree from Lushun. In a city in the Tohoku region on the same latitude as Lushun, jujube tea utensils are made as a special product. This is also one of the strange connections.
二人とは芋を掘る人蒸かす人 （2020.11.28 読売入選）
Two people digging
Potatoes steaming in the pot
Harvest meal awaits.
(2020.11.28 Yomiuri selection)
The nostalgia of home is a house with such a relationship, where one person digs potatoes and brings them home, and another person waits for them and steams them. My family was like that.
何かやり残しありけり秋の浜 （2020.11.21 読売入選)
Unfinished, undone
Abandoned on autumn beach
Something left to rest.
(November 21, 2020, selected for Yomiuri)
A lot of driftwood was washed up on Chigasaki’s autumn beach, and it looks like the remnants of incomplete combustion of the past summer. Even if I walk barefoot on the beach, I won’t feel the big, moist earth beneath my feet like I would on a beach during the rainy season. It’s kind of unstable. Is this due to the season, or is it due to old age?
吊し柿吉祥天のおはす寺 （2019.12.7 読売入選）
Perched upon the temple
persimmon tranquilly hangs
Kissyouten’s gentle eyes
(2019.12.7 Selected for Yomiuri)
This haiku is about Joururi-ji Temple on the border of Kyoto and Nara (Kyoto side). I’ve been curious about this temple ever since I read Tatsuo Hori’s “Spring at Joururiji” when I was in high school. Hori is visiting with his wife in the spring, and the beauty of pieris japonica is described. I also visited this temple with my wife. In our case it is spring and autumn, and this phrase is for autumn. Fortunately, Kissyouten was open to the public, and although it was far away, I was able to see the beauty of the Heian period. The persimmons were hung on the side of reception just inside the gate. It was a tranquil scene typical of this area.
国境のなき大空や鳥渡る （2021.11.6 読売入選)
Borderless sky above
A bird crosses with freedom
No limits in flight
(2021.11.6 Selected for Yomiuri)
Conflicts on the ground will not stop no matter how long it takes, and Afghanistan and the Middle East are overflowing with refugees. Birds migrate south when it gets cold and return north when it gets warm. There are no borders or prejudices, and they live as freely as possible. I believe that birds are more blessed by the god than humans.
一湾の白き航跡鰯船 （2021.12.4 読売入選）
sardine boat glides by
leaving a frothy white trail
across tranquil bay
(2021.12.4 Selected for Yomiuri)
Chigasaki’s main seafood is whitebait. It is a trawling method using a single boat. Once the fish are landed, they are washed and immediately cooled with ice. This poem is about it. In the phrase, I changed whitebait to sardine.
身にしむや畠じまいの桑と鋤 （2022.10.23 神奈川新聞入選）
Body and soul
Tilling fields and mulberry trees—
A farmer’s life
(October 23, 2022, selected for the Kanagawa Shimbun)
The field that has been continuing for many years has also decided to stop this season. The direct reason is that I will be semi-migrating to Shinshu from spring to autumn next year, so I can’t do maintenance in the summer, but I feel like I’m going to finish my life, and I’m trying to wipe away my loneliness. yeah.
トロ箱のミニ水田や今年米 （2022.11.13 神奈川新聞入選）
Mini rice paddies
In wooden boxes, this year’s
Rice crop grows anew
(2022.11.13 Selected for the Kanagawa Shimbun)
A toro box is a polyester box that contains fish. When my wife was doing well, I was working two fields of 15 tsubo each. One of them was 5 km away from my house, and it was a convenient place with farm tools and a well. Then, I remembered that the people in the next block were cultivating rice in a toro box, and I made this poem by reminiscing about what is going on in that field now.
掌は甲より若し種子を採る （2022.11.27 神奈川新聞入選）
The palm is younger
Than the back of the hand;
Picking seeds gently
(2022.11.27 Selected for the Kanagawa Shimbun)
As I got older, I couldn’t easily open supermarket shopping bags, probably because my hands lost moisture. Still, compared to the back of the palm, it looks like it hasn’t aged yet. Seeds of small flowers are collected by placing them on such palms.
小春日やポンと弾けるコルク栓 (2022.12.18 神奈川新聞入選）
A warm spring day –
The cork pops with a sound:
Cheers to new season!
(2022.12.18 Kanagawa newspaper selection)
When my wife was in good health, we often invited acquaintances and held home parties on the veranda. The usual champagne bubbles will erupt when the cork is turned off indoors, but on the veranda, the cork is easily turned off without worrying about that.