Introduction Haiku Poet
Tôgo Nagase “FUKUSHIMA”Kadokawa Haiku Award 2011
After receiving the Kadokawa Haiku Award, Nagase Togo responded to a newspaper interview as follows:
It was a great honor to win the award, however, I had mixed feelings due to the damage in Fukushima, caused by the natural disasters and nuclear power plant accident.
As I am a haiku poet, I would like to depict Fukushima’s situation after the March 2011 earthquake. At first, my mind was occupied by so much anger that I couldn’t create any good haiku. After a certain recovery period, I could appreciate the beauty of nature and encouraged myself to write haiku.
Like Hara Tamiki, the well-known writer who wrote about the tragedy of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima after WWII, I’d like to express the hardships and horrible conditions which Fukushima has to face.
Though my house was half-destroyed, I will overcome the difficulties and keep on writing haiku with the power of life and nature of Fukushima.
（Introduction by Masako Kakutani）
激震や水仙に飛ぶ屋根瓦
gekishin ya suisen ni tobu yanegaw
severe earthquake—
roof tiles flying
to the narcissus
無事ですと電話つながる夜の椿
buji desu to denwa tsunagaru yo no tsubaki
I'm alive, talking
on the reconnected phone…
night camellia
燕来て人消える街被爆中
tsubame kite hito kieru machi hibakuchū
swallows arrive
and people disappear from the town
radiation exposure
しやぼん玉見えぬ恐怖を子に残すな
shabondama mienu kyōfu o ko ni nokosuna
soap bubbles…
don’t pass on the invisible fear
to our children
避難所に春来るキャッチボールかな
hinanjo ni haru kuru kyatchbōru kana
spring comes
to a refugee camp…
playing catch
風評の苺せつなき甘さかな
fūhyō no ichigo setsunaki amasa kana
rumors of contamination
the strawberry's
painful sweetness