DIZZY SUSHI

More great info on maple leaves from japan-guide.com: “Each year, starting in mid September, the ‘koyo (colorful leaves) front’ slowly moves southwards from the northern island of Hokkaido until it reaches the lower elevations of central and southern Japan towards the end of November.”

Photo above: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Translator Sanford Goldstein has graciously allowed me to reprint Akiko Yosano’s tankas in Dizzy Sushi.

#97

Those Plum Blossoms in the poem
You wrote at parting—
They weren’t on your mind. . .
Last autumn she was the one
Leaning against this post

#144

On that cold morning
in Kyoto,
Frozen stiff,
The tip of the writing brush
Borrowed to paint my lips!

Tagged: Akiko Yosano, Kyoto, poetry