A New Year Gift
Haiku by Vladislava Simonova (Ukraine)
Winter morning –
I realized it’s been so long
since I heard the trees.
冬の朝しばらくぶりに木々の音
—
On the fresh white snow
not a single trace remains –
The beauty of void
新雪に跡一つ無き美しさ
—
A winter morning –
Snow keeps falling in the stream,
food for hungry ducks.
冬の朝小川に雪の降り続くお腹の空いた鴨の餌かな
—
The moon scared by
the fireworks of New Year’s Eve –
having slipped behind the clouds
大晦日花火に月の雲隠れ
—
The year’s end draws near –
A cat brushes snowflakes off
its forehead with ease.
年末に額の雪を払う猫
—
Like musical notes,
sparrows sit on frozen wires,
covered in thin ice.
雀たち音符の如く止まってる薄い氷の電線の上
—
The linden trees stand
outside the window, unaware:
the New Year is near.
菩提樹や新旧年に無頓着
—
How cold I have grown…
Yet on the path my shadow
feels it even more.
この寒さ路上の影はより寒し
—
What a fierce snowstorm!
Through the snowy, white curtain
I keep trudging on.
猛吹雪白きカーテン突き進む
—
Year after year, kids
stomp on the thin icy crust
of puddles in play.
今年また子供等遊ぶ水たまり薄き氷の表層を踏む
Translated into Japanese by Hidenori Hiruta
Haiku Poet
Vladislava Simonova (profile & books)
Vladislava Simonova was born on March 23, 1999 in Kharkiv into a family of a soldier and a teacher. She graduated from art school in the violin class and was interested in writing poetry and photography since her school days.
When she was hospitalized for heart disease at the age of 14, she found a book of Japanese poetry in her room, which prompted her to start writing haiku.
At the age of 18, she won the top prize in the student division of an international haiku contest held in Akita City, Japan as the winner of JAL Foundation Award（JAL財団賞) in the Russian section of the 7th Japan-Russia Haiku Contest 2018. Since 2019, her haiku have been featured in the Akita International Haiku Network and in the e-journal Serow (Kamoshika).
With the support of the Ukrainian Embassy in Japan, her first haiku collection, 『ウクライナ、地下壕から届いた俳句』 , or Ukraine, Haiku from the Underground Shelter: The Wings of a Butterfly, was published by Shueisha International in August 2023.
In April 2024, her second haiku collection, 『俳句ウクライナから日本へ 297歩』, or Haiku: From Ukraine to Japan, 297 Steps, was published by Rekishi Tanbosha in Japan.
Her haiku have been put in various newspapers and online media, including Chunichi Shimbun, Kyodo News, Akita Sakigake Shimpo, Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, San-in Chuo Shimpo, NHK’s ETV Special and so on.
Hidenori Hiruta
Akita International Haiku Network
Akita International Haiku Network 