THE OLD CAPITAL NANKING (poem) - Mitsuharu Kaneko - Japan

The Old Capital Nanking

An old capital (1) amid weeping willows.
There are tiles with yellow dragons painted on them. There are old coins.
No, in the lonely weeds are crumbled red walls (2),
puddly ponds where water buffalos play,
and a long, long castle wall where magpies fly.

In the canal below the teahouse surrounded by the warblings of birdcages, a pleasure boat. (3)
Red-purple lanterns from the eaves, coloured handrails, simply bored and hushed during the day. . . .
(A crow’s shadow, reflecting in the dirty water, flits.)
The singing maidens, tired, will sleep. Jewelled necklaces removed, lips peeled;
no fiddles, no clappers sound.
In the old capital that is endlessly declining,
old temples with roofs, and roofs, with odd cat’s ears erect on them.
If you are to hear the pitiful tune of man’s declined heart,
go to the Taihuai (4).
If you are to explore the songs of the most profound rise and fall, go to the grassland.

Quails, reeds, black ugly toads and coffins, and wild dogs,
do you not hear in the wind the tinklings of sash jewels (5) of old?
do you not see reflected in the slight puddle (6) the colonnades that used to be?

Translator's Note: (1) Nanking is spelled Nanjing today. Only too famous for the Nanjing massacre towards the end of 1937, it has been one of the most important cites south of the Yangtze River since the Wu Dynasty (222–280), of the Three Kingdoms, chose it as its capital. Kaneko first visited China, starting from Shanghai, in April and May 1925, and went to see the city when it was in one of its declining phases. This poem originally appeared together with a translation into Chinese by the distinguished writer and educator Xie Liuyi (1898–1945), who studied at Waseda University in Tokyo. Comparing the original and the translation is a fascinating exercise because Kaneko uses a number of ancient phrases from Chinese classics. (2) Here “castle walls” refers to the tall walls surrounding a Chinese city. (3) The Chinese for “pleasure boat” is huafang, literally “painted boat”. (4) The Taihuai is a river south of Nanking that empties into the Yangtze River. (5) “Sash jewels” is a translation of heika (peike in Chinese), a decoration made of dark yellow stones. The word has classical origins. (6) “Puddle” is a translation of kohroh (xingliao in Chinese). It is another word with classical origins.