Journey of Life

Selected Poems of Daisaku Ikeda

Daisaku Ikeda

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780857735621
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

Whether through lyrical celebrations of the wonders of nature; paeans to the steadfastness of women; or salutations to the world leaders who have in their various ways provided inspiration to his lifelong devotion to the causes of peace, justice and education, Daisaku Ikeda in his poems expresses unwavering commitment to the development of a humanistic global culture. These translations, the first of a three-volume collection and based on the Japanese Complete Works of Daisaku Ikeda (Ikeda Daisaku zenshu), cover the years 1945-2007, and explore the many subjects to which the leader of the Soka Gakkai International has devoted his 'poetic heart and mind.' The translators have sought to reproduce the rhythms and timbres of a voice, which- though influenced by the likes of Whitman, Defoe, Dumas, Ibsen, Emerson and Shelley- is yet distinctive and unique. Sometimes the poet adopts a simple vernacular note; at other times the compression associated with Japanese poeic forms haiku and waka. But at all times the poetry maintains a stately rhythm that reflects the dignity of ordinary language and expression.
This collection will delight readers familiar with the prose writings of the author as well as those coming to his work for the first time. The poems within it speak, with freedom and feeling, of a world where genuine poetry reigns supreme- and of a world where poetic perception becomes a perception of interconnectedness; between friends. between humanity and nature, or between humanity and the cosmos.

Poems

Blossoms that scatter

Cherries in bloom that the air raid spared

blue sky above them fallen petals jumbled

for a background the gutted ruins of reality

and the pitiful people who cannot look up to them

bitter are their long wanderings

the road of parent and child

amid the waves of little shacks, flowers in bloom

cherry blossoms—is theirs the hue of dawn?

Ah, there is a simile in this existence

men of power and men of peace

“blossoms that scatter, blossoms that remain

to become blossoms that scatter"—so sings a man

blossoms of youth, how many million—

why must they scatter? why must they scatter?

In distant southern seas, ill-fated cherries

full bloom not yet on them, their branches are in pain

and my friends remaining, their hearts, before we know it,

wounded by the loss of the world of the ideal

Are all things impermanent? are they eternal?

without even knowing, must we scatter?

Blossoms that scatter, blossoms that remain,

bloom forever, in spring send out your fragrance on the storm!

---

Written in April 1945, shortly before Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II, when the author was seventeen. This translation, by Burton Watson, first appeared in Songs from My Heart (1978).

Fuji and the poet

There was a poet, a poet who sang

of this mountain’s unmatched harmony and splendor.

Forgive me, Fuji.

Tonight as I look up at you

I find myself weeping, without reason.

There was a poet who focused the light of his seasoned skill

on this ultimate of the Earth’s forms, and wept.

A day without wind.

In the dear and dreamlike emptiness of the sky,

a cloud is born to long after Fuji.

A poet who loved Fuji through the cycles of great art

that burned in the depths in his life.

Bokusui elevated himself to converse with Fuji

and solemnly sing its infinite melodies.

Fuji under clear skies.

Shining Fuji.

Snow-clad Fuji.

Towering Fuji.

Fuji’s crisp outline against the winter sky.

Fuji under rainclouds.

Rough-skinned Fuji.

White-robed Fuji.

Fuji at daybreak.

Cloud-capped Fuji.

Fuji in the bright light of dawn.

Fuji tonight.

Fuji under leaden skies.

Expansive Fuji.

Fuji in the white garb of spring.

Fuji exposed in autumn.

High in the skies he sings his praise

for this mountain of goodness, justice and philosophy.

---

Written in 1947, when the author was nineteen.

“Forgive me, Fuji”: trans. from Wakayama, Umi no koe (Voice of the Sea) in Wakayama Bokusui zenshu, vol. 1, p. 34.

“A day without wind”: Ibid.

Wakayama Bokusui (1885–1928): a writer of traditional-style Japanese poetry, admired for his elegant and romantic style.

Morigasaki Beach

On the shore at Morigasaki, together with a friend.

The smell of the ocean; waves striking and retreating.

Time passes. Two nineteen-year-olds,

uncertain of their paths, discuss philosophy.

My friend is troubled, beset by poverty.

He declares he will follow the Christian way.

His eyes gleam intensely in the moonlight.

Waves beat the shore to that strong pulse.

Grasses grow thick...

Table of contents

• Cover
• About the author
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Translator’s note
• Poems
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Appendix