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JOHANNA DOMOKOS
rejected Okura’s piece for his performance, the two of them spent a substantial
amount of time discussing the translatability of this haiku.” In fact, the haiku’s
imagery of the wandering sun and moon became the most often repeated and
reformulated motif in Valkeapaa’s work. So, here is Basho’s haiku, written
traditionally in one line, followed by Okura’s one-line translation, and then
Valkeapaa’s adaptation, rendered in his own poetic style."
Basho:
AAIKERDBLIILT, TEHNSEHETI-HRATFY
translates as: [Moon and Sun are the passersby of hundreds of generations,
and the coming years are also travelers.]
Ökura (in Finnish):
Kuu ja aurinko ovat ikuisia matkalaisia. Matkamiehen tavoin tulevat ja
menevät myös vuodet
translates as: [The moon and the sun are forever traveling. Like the travelers,
the years also come and go.]
Valkeapää (in Sami):
Männu ja Beaivi
leat Cudiid buolvadagaid
njolggedeaddjit johtit
Johtolagaid johtet maid jagit;
bohtet, mannet
translates as: [The Moon and the Sun/ are the trotting wanderers / of hundreds
of generations / Along the herding trails the years, too, trek, / coming, passing]
(translated by R. Eriksen and H. Gaski).
In the line above, the Japanese poet Basho, himself a lonely wanderer, uses a
human allegory to describe time by way of a repetitive pattern, following the
strict syllable pattern and aesthetic prescriptions of haiku tradition. This short
and crystalized poem offers a universally relevant theme, which is central to
both traditional Japanese poetry as well as the personal poetry of Valkeapää
(in addition to its cultural symbolism for the Sami). The poem also serves as a
4° The author of this paper would like to thank Jun’ichirö Okura for all the insights he provided
in the creative writing processes of his and Valkeapää’s play during their personal meetings
in 2015 and 2016 in Helsinki.
15 Okura: Ibid., 369.
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