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I Wait for the Moon: 100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda
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Momoko Kuroda (b. 1938) is a remarkable haiku spirit and a powerfully independent Japanese woman. The one hundred poems here—her first collection in English—show her evolution as a poet, her acute lyricism, and her engagement as a writer in issues central to modern Japan: postwar identity, nuclear politics, and Fukushima. Abigail Friedman's introduction and textual comment
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Paperback, 144 pages
Published
October 7th 2014
by Stone Bridge Press
(first published September 22nd 2014)
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Start your review of I Wait for the Moon: 100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda
This is a sweet little collection of 100 haikus, with themes of modern Japan, connected to the Japan of the past in many places. The translator herself is a haiku writer, has met the author, and here offers also a good introduction and background explanation for many poems. The poems are grouped under several themes.
flowers must be opening -
in the pre-dawn darkness
the tinkling of a bell
The author has released 6 haiku collections (some unreleased ones are also included in our collection), receive ...more
flowers must be opening -
in the pre-dawn darkness
the tinkling of a bell
The author has released 6 haiku collections (some unreleased ones are also included in our collection), receive ...more
I wait for fireflies
I wait as if for someone
who will never return
From I Wait for the Moon: 100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda, translated from the Japanese with commentary by Abigail Freidman // 2014 Stone Bridge Press
I stumbled across some of Kuroda's haiku poems last year during August's #witmonth, and made note to return to this collection (available on @hoopladigital book through public libraries!) for #JanuaryinJapan. Using the traditional haiku constructions (5-7-5) her content and themes explore ...more
I wait as if for someone
who will never return
From I Wait for the Moon: 100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda, translated from the Japanese with commentary by Abigail Freidman // 2014 Stone Bridge Press
I stumbled across some of Kuroda's haiku poems last year during August's #witmonth, and made note to return to this collection (available on @hoopladigital book through public libraries!) for #JanuaryinJapan. Using the traditional haiku constructions (5-7-5) her content and themes explore ...more
end of the year that thing called moonbathing . . .
ゆく年の月光浴といふものを
yukutoshi no gekkō yoku to iu mono o
[…] Momoko’s haiku draws on a different season word, emphasizing not the brief moment of change from one year to the next but the gradual ending of the year. She is languorous in her haiku, soaking in the moonlight, relishing the last few evenings under the December moon.
We think we know haiku. It's the short-short form of poetry based on seventeen syllables in a 5/7/5 line length, usually an observation of nature. It's poetry of the moment, dashed off quickly, not serious writing.
Wrong. Haiku is so much more—which is only one of the surprises in this beautiful small volume of haiku from one of Japan's most renowned poets, Momoko Kuroda, translated with insightful commentary by Abigail Friedman, a career U.S. diplomat who studied with Kuroda when Friedman lived ...more
Wrong. Haiku is so much more—which is only one of the surprises in this beautiful small volume of haiku from one of Japan's most renowned poets, Momoko Kuroda, translated with insightful commentary by Abigail Friedman, a career U.S. diplomat who studied with Kuroda when Friedman lived ...more
I Wait for the Moon is a lovely compilation of Momoko Kuroda's work that can be enjoyed by haiku lovers and novices a like. Kuroda's poems are evocative, and she possess such a range in topics that she is able to bring to life in a few short lines. My favorite section of the book is "Deep Beneath the Sea," which is a sub-collection about the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. She juxtaposes the flora of Japan while capturing the heartbreak of the survivors who lo
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This was one of the most beautifully put together and informative poetry collections I've ever read. The author/editor/compiler of haikus managed to explain things without taking the magic away from the original poem. Will definitely be adding this to our poetry library.
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Goodreads Giveaway. An interesting and informative little book on Haiku's and their translations.
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I’m a big fan of haikus because they’re not overwritten- it’s what’s left unsaid that creates so much from so little. This collection: I Wait for the Moon: 100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda was translated by Kuroda’s apprentice, Abigail Friedman, a retired diplomat who began composing in a haiku group that met at the foot of Mt. Fuji, led by Kuroda. Talk about doing the foreigner abroad thing right! Friedman wrote a book, The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan about it all and I’m def
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A new haiku favorite, with a perfectly suited translator. We can see the original Japanese, and Abigail Friedman often explains why she made the choices she did in translating, or she gives some personal information about Momoko's state of mind when she wrote the haiku, or she offers a contrast with a classic haiku. I cried during the chapter Deep Beneath the Sea, which deals with the Great East Japan Earthquake.
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The mob ing and thought- provoking haiku, in both the original Japanese and translated English, are written by Japan’s premier haiku poet and translated by her friend.
The explanations and backstories provide good insight.
The explanations and backstories provide good insight.
Friedman has managed not only to translate Kuroda’s work but really bring it to life in this wondrous little book! I learnt so much about Haiku, the history & culture, the language & subtleties, as well as Kuroda’s life and experiences. All alongside beautiful Haiku’s. A must-read for a lover of this art form.
A Goodreads First Reads giveaway win! This is a beautiful, and beautifully put together, little collection. I've always liked haiku. These are translated from the original Japanese, and the translator (Abigail Friedman) does a marvelous job. She doesn't opt for literal translations (as one cannot do with poetry) and doesn't attempt to make the English translations fit the 5-7-5 syllable format (the Japanese generally conforms to it). How do I know all this? Because in addition to Momoko's poems,
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I received this book for free through a Goodreads first reader giveaway.
Haiku is such a beautiful medium, and both the poet and the translator work with it well in this collection. I very much appreciated the commentaries as well, as they helped make the poems more real and meaningful to me as a non Japanese speaker.
Haiku is such a beautiful medium, and both the poet and the translator work with it well in this collection. I very much appreciated the commentaries as well, as they helped make the poems more real and meaningful to me as a non Japanese speaker.
One thing I learned is that some Japanese letters have long sounds making them two syllables. A good book on an author I didn't know. Many haiku were commented on and these are worth the cost of the book.
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