10 haiku by David McMurray
10句（2022（令和4）年度）
1.
family of swans
having stayed longer this spring…
return to Russia
白鳥の家族
この春は長く滞在し
ロシアに戻る
2.
biting wind–
the war child lines up
empty water bottles
刺すような風
戦争の子が並ぶ
空の水のボトルを持って
3.
wayfarer’s willows
silent shadow dangles
on the Ukraine border
旅人の柳
静かな影がぶら下がっている
ウクライナの国境で
4.
unbearably loud
the wordless poem
we never wrote
耐え難いほど声が大きい
無言の詩を
書いたことがない
5.
Osaka lockdown…
forgetting her name but not
the scent of wisteria
大阪のロックダウン
彼女の名は思い出せないけれど
藤の香り
6.
Japanese whisky
around the autumn campfire
words flared then burned out
日本のウイスキー
秋のキャンプファイヤーを囲み
言葉は燃えて 尽きた
7.
scarecrow is still here
exiting the train station
hometown thanksgiving
まだかかしが立っている
改札を出れば
故郷の感謝祭
8.
the red maple leaf…
returned to the library
on page 69
赤いカエデの葉
図書館に戻った
69ページ
9.
dark side of the moon
across the winter ocean
your half of the moon
月の暗黒面
冬の海を越えて
あなたの月の半分
10.
summer moon–
light echoes across
the canyon
夏の月
光がこだまする
キャニオン中に
Comment
Inspired by fine works of haiku and photos by David McMurray, Hidenori Hiruta introduces 10 photo haiku (Japanese/English) on 鹿児島, or part of Kagoshima Prefecture.
On November 3, 2015, Hidenori Hiruta participated in the Only One Kagoshima Tree Haiku Contest festival held at the International University of Kagoshima (鹿児島国際大学) as one of the 30th National Culture Festival events.
Fortunately, Hidenori had a chance to take a stroll around the city, taking some photos. He also visited Chiran Peace Park (知覧平和公園) in Minamikyūshū-shi (南九州市, lit. “South Kyūshū City”).
10 photo haiku were made in 2022, based on the pictures he had taken in 2015.
1.
文化の日薩摩美人のお出迎へ
(bunka no hi satsuma bijin no o-demukae)
Satsuma beauty
welcomes visitors
Culture Day
Note:
Satuma (薩摩) is from the Satsuma Domain (薩摩藩, Satsuma-han), briefly known as the Kagoshima Domain (鹿児島藩, Kagoshima-han), which was a domain (han) of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871.
2.
ひつとべと祝ふ薩摩の文化祭
(hittobe to iwau satsuma no bunkasai)
Be active!
Satsuma celebrating
Culture Festival
3.
島見ゆる仙巌園や菊祭
(shima miyu-ru sengan-en ya kiku-matsuri)
Sakurajima over there
here is Sengan-en
Chrysanthemum Festival
Notes:
Sakurajima (桜島, literally “Cherry Blossom Island”) is an active stratovolcano, formerly an island and now a peninsula, in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyūshū.
Sengan-en (仙巌園) is a Japanese garden attached to a former Shimazu clan residence in Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture.
4.
石垣に菊咲くがごと懸かりけり
(ishigaki ni kiku saku-ga goto kakakri-keri)
Chrysanthemums bloom
as if hung
from stone walls
5.
城山の望む天下や秋の色
(shiroyama no nozomu tenka ya aki no iro)
Shiroyama
commanding the world below
autumn hues
Note:
Shiroyama（城山）is a mountain or hill in the central part of Kagoshima City, with an altitude of 107 or 108 meters.
6.
城山の平和を祈る菩薩かな
(shiroyama no heiwa o inoru bosatsu kana)
Shiroyama Bodhisattva
praying
for world peace
7.
特攻や知覧の園に今も立つ
(tokkō ya chiran no sono ni ima-mo tatsu)
Kamikaze pilot
stands still today
Chiran Peace Park
Note:
Chiran Peace Park (知覧平和公園) is in Chiran, South Kyūshū City, Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Kyūshū.
8.
特攻や平和を願ひ飛び立てり
(tokkō ya heiwa o negai tobi-tateri)
Kamikaze pilots
leaving Chiran
for peace
Note:
Chiran Peace Park has the Statue of Mother of Peace (平和の母).
9.
特攻の宿る堂宇を拝しけり
(tokkō no yadoru dō-u o haishi-keri)
Kamikaze pilots
inhabit here within
the Kannon’s womb
Note:
Chiran Peace Park has the Tokkō Peace Kannon-dō (特攻平和観音堂).
It is a temple having a statue of Kannon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy inside. The image enshrined within is a 0.58m replica statue of the Yume-chigai Kannon (夢違観音 Dream-Changing Kannon), a National Treasure at Hōryū-ji Temple (法隆寺). The names of the 1,036 kamikaze pilots are written on paper within her womb.
10.
秋深し知覧の桜根を広ぐ
(aki fukashi chiran no sakura ne o hirogu)
Deep autumn
Chiran’s cherry trees
spreading roots
蛭田 秀法
HIRUTA Hidenori
Member of HIA (HAIKU INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION)
Photos taken in 2015
Haiku written in 2022
Akita International Haiku Network 
Family of swans described a warm sense in contrast to haiku2. A couple of children are so helpless and solitary because of the war. They lost their parents and hometown. The author described a dreariness to appeal for stopping the war. All of us are the only wayfarers and helpless for the war even we wish to stop that. Although we are not violated by the war,we still concern about refugee and provide assistance to those affected. Haiku5,6,7 described a peaceful and stable picture to appeal human beings should cherish our current life. In the final, dark side of the moon means Ukraine is on the other side of the earth and we can’t see it, but se still care about it. Light echoes across means eventually the war could end up and the future is full of sunlight and has bright prospect.