Mitsuhashi Takajo

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Mitsuhashi Takajo 三橋鷹女

(1899-1972) 明治32年12月24日～昭和47年4月7日



She was born in Narita City, close to Tokyo, on December 24, 1899.
She wrote very individualistic haiku and was full of talent, imagination and vitality, but later experienced loneliness in her old age.

She is one of the four famous T in the Haiku world

Nakamura Teijo 中村汀女
Hashimoto Takako 橋本多佳子
Hoshino Tatsuko 星野立子

There name literally means "hawk woman".


Haiku Group: The SWING
Yusahari Kukai 「ゆさはり句会」
Founded by Mitsuhashi Takajo in Narita.



Bronze Statue in Narita



Japanese Reference

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老いながら椿となつて踊りけり
oinagara tsubaki to natte odorikeri

as I get older
I will become a camellia
and dance and dance



秋の蝶です　いつぽんの留針です
aki no choo desu ippon no tomebari desu

I am an autumn butterfly
I am just one pin

Tr. Gabi Greve

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moyuru ma ga inochi onna to toogarashi

the life for flame
Woman
And a red pepper


白露や死んでゆく日も帯締めて　

White dew
My dying day
Tie an obi


この樹登らば鬼女となるべし夕紅葉

Climb up the tree
I will become a demon
Evening red leaves


Call a snow
the other side is white
Living flatfish



Everything is dream
edelweiss bloom isn`t it?



shuusen wa kogu mono ai uaubau mono


Compiled by Etsuko Yanagibori


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Back in 1964, Blyth, in his History of Haiku, identified Takako as
"the chief woman writer of haiku in Japan."

Ueda quotes her as saying,
"To write a haiku is to remove a scale. Doing so is proof that we are alive."

Two translations by Ueda:


moyuru ma ga inochi onna to toogarashi

their lives last
only while aflame--
a woman and a pepper pod


kono ki nobonaba kijo to naru beshi yuumomiji

climb this tree
and you'll be a she-devil--
red leaves in the sunset glow


千の虫鳴く一匹の狂ひ鳴き　
sen no mushi naku ippiki no kuruinaki

among thousands
of singing insects, one
singing out of tune

Compiled by Larry Bole



Hiroaki Sato
led a translating workshop at the HSA Metro Northeast Regional meeting on June 20, 2009, in New York City, at the Tenri Institute.

Niji kiete shimaeba kaeru hitozuma ni

Keshi chitte kokoro ni daku wa tori-kemono

Yuki o yobu katami no shiroki iki-garei

Manjushage sakeri ikusa no ba o omou
Tsuwamono no inochi wa kenuru manjushage

Bakugekiki ni noritashi tsuyu no mishin fumeri

Aware waga ite kareshi koe ga mono ieri

. Larry Bole discussing the workshop 　



MORE
Explicating the Haiku of Mitsuhashi Takajo
by Hiroaki Sato, New York
Frogpond, March 2009
Haiku Society of America


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her haiku about

. terifuri-gasa 照り降り傘 umbrella for rain and shine .


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雪をよぶ 片身の白き生き鰈
yuki o yobu katami no shiroki iki-garei


I think she is talking about the ikizukuri, the preparing of sashimi with a live fish, its white meat mounted on one side. The outside skin of a flatfish or flounder is usually brown.




foreboding snow . . .
the white flesh
of a live flounder



. WASHOKU
Ikizukuri, live sashimi いきづくり (生き作り／活き作り) 　


. WASHOKU
Dishes with flounder, sole, flatfish 　




賛美歌や足長くらげ掌にとろけ
sambika ya ashinaga kurage te ni toroke

this hymn -
a jelly fish with long legs
melts in my palm


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Avant Garde poetry of Mitsuhashi Takajo:

up on a hydro pole
the electrician turns
into a cicada

Haiku by Japanese Women
Translated by: MAKOTO UEDA

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The hair ornament of the sun
has sunk
into the legendary sea.

... www.tapsns.com


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天道虫天の密書を翅裏に
tentomushi ten no missho o hane ura ni

this ladybird
(it carries) a secret letter from the sky
under its wings


. Ladybird (tentoomushi 天道虫).

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曼珠沙華　Manjushage - kigo for autumn
a symbol for death, the "red flower" 赤い花 / 死人花 / 天蓋花

曼珠沙華うしろ向いても曼珠沙華
manjushage ushiro muite mo manjushage

manjushage flowers
if I turn back
manjushage flowers

曼珠沙華咲けりいくさの場を思ふ
manjushage sakeri ikusa no ba o omou

曼珠沙華咲いてまつくれなゐの秋

tsuwamono no inochi wa kenuru manjushage


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When I break off the manjushage,
look — fire burns in my hands.
- tr. ? -

Haiku by Hashimoto Takako, 1899-1963

- source : www.mythicmaps.net


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Here Haiku in Japanese

夏痩せて嫌ひなものは嫌ひなり　（『向日葵』昭和15） ・

ひるがほに電流かよひゐはせぬか　（『向日葵』昭和15） ・

みんな夢雪割草が咲いたのね　（『向日葵』昭和15）※1 ・

この樹登らば鬼女となるべし夕紅葉　（『魚の鰭』昭和16） ・

白露や死んでゆく日も帯締めて　（『白骨』昭和27） ・

鞦韆(しうせん)は漕ぐべし愛は奪ふべし　（『白骨』昭和27）

老いながら椿となつて踊りけり　（『白骨』昭和27） ・

秋の蝶です　いつぽんの留針です　（『羊歯地獄』昭和36） ・

薄氷へわが影ゆきて溺死せり　（『羊歯地獄』昭和36） ・

千の虫鳴く一匹の狂ひ鳴き　（『三橋鷹女全句集』昭和51）

collected by: 　uraaozora.jpn.org

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Woman Poets of Japan
Two of her haiku

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The Haiku World was at one time almost solely a man's province. Thank God that's over. Though I don't know about America, according to Makoto Ueda, 70% of modern day Japan's haiku writing population are women.
To say the land of the rising sun was not supportive of women's participation back in the early days would be an understatement to say the least.

Read more here

Women Who Kill (and the men who love them)


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