Sado Island

About six years ago, there was a discussion on the list of the poetry quoted in "The Death of Dr. Island" which was initiated by alga. As far as I could tell, no one was able to pin down the source of the story's closing haiku. Has there been any progress since then? Anyone know about these lines? I gather that there was a massacre of allied POWs on Sado Island towards the end of WWII, but have no idea whether that is in the least bit relevant. The POWs were being used as forced labour in a mine on the island and were apparently killed when the camp guards deliberately dynamited the mine while the POWs were working in it. Could be - probably is - entirely irrelevant to TDoDI, but I thought that I'd mention it. Nigel

Six years--gosh, are we all six years older? Surely not! Post the list, Nigel, for the Web is six thousand times bigger than it was six years ago and I will do a search. (I've been singing "Abdul Abulbul Amir" all afternoon after getting the words and tune off Google--do not forget, my friends, that the sons of the prophet are brave men and bold.) -alga

oops. I posted from the wrong address. http://www.urth.net/urth/archives/v0003/0197.shtml Seas are cold tonight... Stretching over Sado island Silent clouds of stars. http://www.worldhaikureview.org/pages/whcjapan15.shtml haiku about Tanabata (Star Festival) appears in the chapter of =20 Echigo=A0 Road in Basho's Oku no Hosomichi: The Narrow Road to Oku araumi ya Sado ni yokotau amanogawa (Basho) Araumi ya: wild sea Sado ni yokotau: stretching to Sado Isle Amanogawa: the Milky Way (literally) Could be a pastiche of Basho? I will ask some poetry friends. mimosa=

oops. I posted from the wrong address. http://www.urth.net/urth/archives/v0003/0197.shtml Seas are cold tonight... Stretching over Sado island Silent clouds of stars. http://www.worldhaikureview.org/pages/whcjapan15.shtml haiku about Tanabata (Star Festival) appears in the chapter of Echigo Road in Basho's Oku no Hosomichi: The Narrow Road to Oku araumi ya Sado ni yokotau amanogawa (Basho) Araumi ya: wild sea Sado ni yokotau: stretching to Sado Isle Amanogawa: the Milky Way (literally) Could be a pastiche of Basho? I will ask some poetry friends. Mimosa: It is not a pastiche of Basho. It is the man himself (17th c.), and this is a very famous poem. Here are a few more translations. High over wild seas surrounding Sado Island: the river of heaven the rough sea - flowing toward Sado Isle the River of Heaven rough sea the Milky Way is crossing over to Sado And here is a tribute to it by a modern poet named Hoshino Tsubaki Sado Isle in view day stretches to an end on the vast sea (English version by ST & DWB) sado=Sado Island, north of Niigata; mie-te=has come in view; oo-unabara=a big ocean; chijitsu=lengthening day, sunset getting later, a spring kigo; kana=kireji, exclamation (Tsubaki is obviously conscious of Basho's haiku: araumi ya Sado ni yokotau ama no kawa, or rough sea/ over Sado Island/ milky way) As you gathered from the six-year-ago posts, the other fragments are from Milton's "Il Pensoroso" and Tennyson's "Enoch Arden." I think the Basho poem and the Tsubaki tribute are both intended to evoke feelings of humility at our small place in the universe, which is certainly a theme in the Urth series. -alga -alga

I have been wondering why Wolfe translated the wild sea as cold sea? I have not read the short story, maybe it would be obvious if I had. btw, that page where I found the Basho haiku explains about Sado island and the Star Festival: "The Milky Way (according to an ancient legend associated with Star Festival) excites pity for the Altair-Vega couple. They can meet only once a year at the time of the Star Festival called Tanabata in East Asia. Sado recalls the sadness of noble people who were exiled there, such as the famous Noh-dancer Zeami or Saint Nichiren (Buddhist)." I looked this up on google and found that the festival is on July 7th (so it's not in winter (was wondering if that could explain the cold.) but one interesting thing about the legend is that if it rains on that day, the couple will be prevented from meeting. http://www.watanabegumi.co.jp/jpculture/tanabata/tanabata.html the translations you found...I like this one the best. rough sea the Milky Way is crossing over to Sado I am going to check my the book of haiku I have translated by Hass to see if this Basho is in there. I would like to see what he has to say about it. Anyway, in this poem since the sea is rough, perhaps it is raining. And since it set on Sado, it is even more sad due to the mortal people who are exiled there.

mimosa