One of the strengths of the Japanese Studies Collections at the Ohio State University Libraries is an extensive collection of works and rare publications by world-acclaimed author TANIKAWA Shuntaro ( 谷川俊太郎). Tanikawa is Japan’s preeminent contemporary poet whose work has won over ten literary awards and can be found in Japanese textbooks across the nation. In addition to being a poet, he is also an acclaimed translator, picture book writer, and scriptwriter.
Much of Tanikawa’s work has already been translated and published in English, including his Floating the River in Melancholy, for which he won the American Book Award. His work in translating children’s literature, including Charles Shultz’s Peanuts comic strip, Mother Goose rhymes, and Swimmy by Leo Lionni, garnered him a nomination for the Hans Christian Andersen award in 2008. His worldwide stature and presence in literature has also made him a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
OSU’s Collection
One of the reasons OSU Libraries have amassed a strong collection of Tanikawa’s published works is due his relationship with former OSU professor, Harold Wright who helped create the Japanese major at OSU in the 1960s! The translator of many of Tanikawa’s works, Harold Wright has donated a number of autographed books of Tanikawa poetry as well as personal correspondence and tapes that they exchanged in which Tanikawa reads his work out loud. OSU Libraries is in fact currently in the process of accessioning Professor Wright’s papers into Special Collections; his papers will be housed eventually in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library and in the University Archives. We look forward to making Professor Wright’s materials available to the public in the near future. In the meantime, however, some highlights from our collection of Tanikawa works are as follows.
Shuntarō Tanikawa : selected poems. Translated by Harold Wright
This is a collection of Tanikawa’s major works. Originally published in 2001, the anthology contains poems from eleven books, spanning over forty years, and is translated into English by Harold Wright. On full display is Tanikawa’s colloquial approach to poetry, with an embrace of everyday language and wry self-awareness, as well the influences of Western culture.
Map of Days (Hibi no chizu). Translated by Harold Wright
Number 19 in the “Asian Poetry in Translation: Japan: series by Katydid Books, this book contains original Japanese texts in romanization. Provocative poem titles include “August 15, 1945,” “To Kill a Wife,” and “A dirge for John Lennon.”
This anthology of short poems in the original vernacular resembles a tear-off desk calendar: each of the 365 pages contains a short poem. The poems are randomly organized, so readers are free to start and stop at any page, making this collection perfect for light reading. It can also serve as an introduction to Tanikawa’s work, as the topics are wide and varying. There are just six copies of this book found in North America.
私の胸は小さすぎる / Watashi no mune wa chiisasugiru
Also in the vernacular, this book contains a selection of poems concerning romance and love. The poems are emotional, and readers can feel the power of Tanikawa’s words as they read through. Perhaps most interesting are the short essays between poems, which illuminate Tanikawa’s thoughts on romance formatted in a Q&A format. OSU is one of just two libraries in North America to hold a copy of this book.
Written in both Japanese and English, the poems found in this collection are easy to read and digest. Each poem is a scant 14 lines and are written in hiragana (the Japanese phonetic alphabet) with simple words, focusing on the rhythm of words. Reading the poems evokes a sense a child speaking. The poems are vivid and imaginative with a warm and gentle style. The poems express the emotions and feelings of our daily lives. OSU is lucky to have one of the only two copies in North America.
Kotoba asobi-uta is a selection of children’s poems with colorful illustrations. The whole book is written in hiragana, and all 15 poems posses an amazing harmony between sounds and meaning. The poems are meant to be read aloud so listeners and readers can enjoy the musical sounds and rhythm of Tanikawa’s poetry.
“Morning Relay”
Tanikawa Shuntaro is widely read and respected not only in his native country of Japan, but around the world. Below is a video link to a nationally televised commercial for Nescafé coffee, which features one of Tanikawa’s most famous poems: “Morning Relay”.
朝のリレーMorning Relay
Written by 谷川俊太郎Shuntaro Tanikawa
Translated by William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura
Source: Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature Volume 49, Number 2, April 2011 p. 84
カムチャツカの若者が
While a Kamchatkan youth
きりんの夢を見ているとき
is dreaming of a giraffe,
メキシコの娘は
a Mexican girl
朝もやの中でバスを待っている
is awaiting a bus in the morning mist.
ニューヨークの少女が
When a girl in New York
ほほえみながら寝がえりをうつとき
turns over in her bed, smiling,
ローマの少年は
a boy in Rome winks
柱頭を染める朝陽にウインクする
at the morning sun that dyes the capital of a column.
この地球では
On this Earth,
いつもどこかで朝がはじまっている
day is always dawning somewhere.
ぼくらは朝をリレーするのだ
We relay the morning
経度から経度へと
from longitude to longitude,
そうしていわば交替で地球を守る
and so take turns, as it were, in protecting the Earth.
眠る前のひととき耳をすますと
If you listen a moment before falling asleep,
どこか遠くで目覚時計のベルが鳴っている
you hear a ringing of some distant alarm clock –
それはあなたの送った朝を
solid proof that the morning you relayed
誰かがしっかりと受けとめた証拠なのだ
has surely been caught by someone else
Other works by Shuntaro Tanikawa at OSUL
Yomu Chikara Kiku Chikara (読む力。聴く力) by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎), Kawai Hayao (河合隼雄), and Tachibana Takashi (立花隆) (Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, 2015)
Sono Hoka Ni (そのほかに) by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎) (Tōkyo ̄ : Shūeisha, 1979)
At midnight in the kitchen I just wanted to talk to you: poems by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎), translated by William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura (Portland, Or.: Prescott Street Press, 1980)
Tanikawa Shuntarō: aimai na mama ni (谷川俊太郎: あいまいなままに) by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎) (Tōkyō: Nihon Tosho Sentā, 2000)
Shitte nandarō (詩ってなんだろう) by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎) (Tōkyō: Chikuma Shobō, 2001)
Minna no Tanikawa Shuntarō shishū (みんなの谷川俊太郎詩集) by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎) (Tōkyō: Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho, 2010)
Floating the river in melancholy by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎), translated by William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura ( Portland, Or: Prescott Street Press; Tokyo: Shichō-sha, 1988)
The Naif by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎), translated by William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura (Santa Fe, N.M. : Katydid Books ; Honolulu, HI : Distributed by the University of Hawai’i Press, 2004)
The Art of Being Alone: Poems 1952-2009 by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎), translated with an introduction by Takako U. Lento (Ithaca, NY: East Asia Program, Cornell University, c2011)
Hihyō no seiri ( 批評の生理) by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎) (Tōkyō: Esso Sutandādo Sekiyu Kabushiki Kaisha Kōhōbu, 1977)
Nihongo gurafiti: Kotoba no kōgengaku (日本語グラフィティ: ことばの考現学) by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎) (Tōkyō : Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1987)
Naked: poems by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎), translated by William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura (Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press; Yokohama, Japan: Saru Press International, c1996)
On Love by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎), translated by William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura (Santa Fe, N.M.: Katydid Books; Honolulu: Distributed by University of Hawaii Press, c2003)
Giving People Poems by by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎), translated by William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura (Santa Fe, N.M.: Tarsier Books; San Francisco, CA: SARU Press International in association with Katydid Books; Distributed by University of Hawaiì Press, 2005)
Mamma = Manma (Mamma = まんま) by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎) (Tōkyō: Tokuma Shoten, 2011)
Nihongo to Nihonjin no kokoro (日本語と日本人の心) by Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川俊太郎) (Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, 2002)