蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら
tombo tsuri kyou wa doko made itta yara
my little dragonfly hunter
how far, I wonder
has he gone today...
—Chiyo-ni
(trans. David LaSpina[1])
Chiyo-ni is writing about her dead son. You can feel her sorrow as she uses a simple line, one that that she must have used many times while he was alive when he would run with his friends and she would wonder where he was. Even today, catching dragonflies is a popular activity for Japanese boys. We can imagine that her boy was no different and enjoyed the activity enough for her to refer to him by it.
With him gone, the innocent question of his whereabouts takes a sad and wistful tone, strong enough to bring tears to your eyes.
The question takes on a further meaning when we consider that the path through the afterlife for children was said to be an extremely difficult one, even with the help of Jizo-sama, the Buddhist saint who is said to help children in the afterlife in their journey to be reborn. How far has he made it today in the afterlife?
. . .
Thank you for reading. Just to check if anyone has read this far: first five people who comment will get a share of SBI each.
| David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. |
That is, me! If you like this translation, feel free to use it. Just credit me. Also link here if you can. ↩