Onomatopoetic Words - Repetition

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Onomatopoetic Words

and repetition, see below



平安神宮 at shrine Heian jingu in Kyoto


はらはらと
はらはらはらと
桜かな

harahara to
harahara hara to
sakura kana

fluttering
more fluttering
cherry blossoms

- Shared by Taro Aizu -
Joys of Japan, 2012


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quote:
There are a lot of Japanese haiku using onomatopoeic words or mimetic words.
I think it's hard to translate these haiku.

For example

mizu-makura gabari to samui umi ga aru

Saito Sanki

gabari to: mimetic word, "gabari to" is an unusual word.

Maybe Sanki made a new word. But I can feel suddenness from the sound of "gabari to".

The situation of this haiku is ( in my imagination) :
Sanki had a high fever, so he slept using a water pillow. There were several pieces of ice in it. Sanki was half conscious. When pieces of ice made a low sound, he felt as if he were in a cold sea ( with icebergs ).

The mimetic/onomatopoeic word "gabari to" has the power to make me imagine the above situation.
Perhaps there is no word in English like "gabari to".
Of course, there must be a lot of English mimetic/onomatopoeic words not to be translated into Japanese words.
©　Hiromi / Shiki Archives 1998



Adjectives are frequently used in Japansese haiku, as they fit each situation.
See KERORI below for translation problems.


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In English as in Japanese, onomatopoetic words are those that imitate natural sounds. In Japanese, however, there are literally hundreds of such words, and they are used much more frequently than in English. Words that represent actual sounds (e.g., animal noises) are called giseigo, while words that refer specifically to actions (e.g., to drink with a gulp or to drink sip by sip) are called gitaigo.

Read more HERE !

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Onomatopoeia (occasionally spelled onomateopoeia or onomatopœia) is a word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing, suggesting its source object, such as "click," "buzz," or animal noises such as "oink", "quack", "slurp", or "meow". The word is a synthesis of the Greek words όνομα (onoma, = "name") and ποιέω (poieō, = "I make" or "I do") thus it essentially means "name creation".

doki doki (ドキドキ): the (speeding up of the) beating of a heart (and thus excitement).
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !



bara bara / giri giri
WKD: Some Japanese Onomatopoetic Words


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ONOMATOPOETIC ENGLISH-JAPANESE DICTIONARY


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Hototogisu, little cuckoo
This is an onomatopoetic word for the bird's call.

Little Cuckoo, C. poliocephalis, hototogisu ホトトギス, 時鳥
kigo for all summer

In 1898 Takahama Kyoshi became the editor of Hototogisu, a magazine of haiku that was started by Shiki.
“Hototogisu” (Japanese literary magazine)

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a house centipede; a galley worm
gejigeji 蚰蜒 (げじげじ)

kigo for all summer

geji, げじ、
big geji, oogeji 大蚰蜒（おおげじ）

Millipede, centipede, mukade,


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Compiled by Larry Bole
(Translating Haiku Forum)

Here is the url for a list of "Japanese Sound effects and what they mean," which is useful in attempting to understand manga:
http://www.oop-ack.com/manga/soundfx.html


Blyth discusses onomatopoeia in "Haiku," Vol. 1, "Eastern Culture," "Section V The Technique of Haiku, 4. Onomatopoeia."

To summarize:

According to Blyth, "of all languages, Japanese is by far the richest in onomatopoeic elements..."

Blyth identifies three types of onomatopoeia:
"(a) The direct representation of the sounds of the outside world by the sound of the voice. ...
(b) The representation of movement, or physical sensation other than that of sound. ...
(c) The representation of soul states. ..."

Blyth quotes the following examples:

(a)
Ochikochi ochikochi to utsu kinuta kana.

Here and there,
There and here,
Beating fulling-blocks.
Buson


Ichi boku to poku poku aruku hanami kana

He ambles along
With his man-servant:
Cherry-blossom viewing.
Kigin


Butsudan ni honzon kaketa ka hototogisu

"Is the main image
Set on the altar?"
Cries the hototogisu.
Soukan - Sookan - Sokan



(b)
Ishikawa wa kawarari inazuma sarari kana.

The Stony River rippling,
The lightning
Flickering--
Issa


Yusa-yusa to haru ga yuku zo yo nobe no kusa.

Spring departs,
Trembling, in the grasses
of the fields.
Issa


(c)
Hito chirari konoba mo chirari horari kana.

People are few,
Leaves also fall
Now and then.
Issa


Utagauna ushio no hana mo ura no haru.
(Blyth says in a footnote, "notice the u's, and a's.")

Do not doubt it,
The bay has its spring too,--
The flowers of the tide.

. utagau na ushio no hana mo ura no haru .


Osoki hi no tsumorite touki mukashi kana.

Slow days passing, accumulating,--
How distant they are,
The things of the past!
Buson


Osoki hi ya kodama kikoyuru kyou no sumi.

The slow day;
Echoes heard
In a corner of Kyoto.
Buson


After giving these examples, Blyth goes on to say:

"We should remind ourselves once more of Basho's advice to his disciples:

'Repeat (your verses) a thousand times on your lips.'

Haiku, no less than waka, are songs; they are meant to be read aloud, and repeated aloud. Onomatopoeia is not a matter of the eye, though it may help; the full and perfect meaning of a haiku is not realized until it is heard by the physical ear."


Here is another (well-known) haiku taken from another part of Blyth's discussion of onomatopoeia:

Haru no umi hinemosu notari notari kana

The spring sea,
Gently rising and falling,
The whole day long.
Buson


I would say this is an example of (b).

In "The Haiku Handbook," Higginson reiterates Blyth, adding his own thoughts, and also discusses the visual aspect of onomatopoeia (see the book's index).

Joan Giroux, in her book, "The Haiku Form," also discusses onomatopoeia. She gives some of what she describes as "innumerable repetitious and onomatopoeic words" in the Japanese language, such as "'perapera' (fluently), 'pikapika' (shiny), 'pachipachi' (crackling), 'pakapaka' (galloping), 'parapara' (patter), 'wakuwaku' (nervously), [and] 'tsurutsuru' (slippery)--all of which are used to great advantage in haiku."

Ms. Giroux gives one Japanese example of onomatopoeia in haiku:

馬ぼくぼく我を絵に見る夏野哉
Uma hokuhoku Ware wo e ni miru Natsu-no kana
uma bokuboku ware o e ni miru natsu-no kana

I find myself in a picture
The cob ambles slowly
Across the summer moor.

Staying in Kaii province, admiring the horses in the summer of 1685 . . .
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


More LINKS and thoughts on the subject
Larry Bole, Translating Haiku


hokuhoku ほくほく - (various meanings)

ほくほくと霞んで来るはどなた哉
hoku-hoku to kasunde kuru wa donata kana

rap-a-tap
who's that coming
in the mist?
Tr. Lanoue



who is it
walking slowly closer
out in the mist?
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku comes from a letter Issa sent in the 2nd or 3rd month of 1813 to the anthology editor and haikai poet Fujimori Sobaku, who lived in Suwa, not too far from Issa. The hokku is a slight revision of one in Issa's diary for the 2nd month (March) of 1813, soon after Issa had concluded an agreement on 1/26 in his hometown with his half-brother concerning the division of his father's estate. It's tempting to read this hokku as Issa listening to his own footsteps gradually coming closer to him through the mountain mist in his hometown, where he hopes to settle down in the future, but it could be a naturalistic hokku about an uncanny experience in thick mountain mist. Issa uses a polite form for "who," so he does not seem to be afraid of the approaching person. The first version uses even more honorific language, so it's possible Issa may wonder if a bodhisattva such as Jizo or Kannon could possibly be out in the mist. It's left up to the reader to guess who or what kind of being the footsteps belong to.

For the meaning of the adverb modifying the verb, I follow Maruyama Kazuhiko (Seventh Diary 1.343) and various Japanese dictionaries. This was a very common meaning in Issa's time, though the meaning of hoku-hoku to (also boku-boku to) changes if it becomes hoku-hoku and is accompanied by tsue, as in one hokku by Issa.

Chris Drake


. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

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Matsuo Basho　松尾芭蕉
. WKD : Onomatopoetic Words used by Basho .

Kobayashi Issa　小林一茶
. WKD : Onomatopoetic Words used by Issa .

Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村
. WKD : Onomatopoetic Words used by Buson .


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Repetition 繰り返し kurikaeshi

Repetition can be used to emphasize the mood of a haiku.
It must be skillfully applied to create a special effect not possible without it.


松島やああ松島や松島や

Matsushima ya
aa Matsushima ya
Matsushima ya


attributed to Kyoka-Writer Monk Tahara Bo



quote
"Repetition - For Meaning and Melody"
Florence Vilen (Sweden)

Among all poetical forms the haiku is the very soul of brevity. In no more than three lines it contains a maximum of seventeen syllables, often fewer. Every word, every break counts. Yet there are haiku that have space for repetition within this narrow frame. How then is this achieved?

It goes without saying that in order to work it must be done with considerable skill, or sensitivity. It may used for quite different poetical reasons, however.

By its very element of surprise repetition of a word or part of a phrase may make the readers pay greater attention. They may feel that in order to be understood the text as it stands calls for reading aloud. Now recitation of poetry is an excellent
practice which has been neglected in these years of silent reading due to general literacy. A poem worth reading is worth reciting, and will gain by it. Often the word which is repeated changes its sense to some degree. This will encourage the reader to savour its complete range of meaning. This effect is particularly striking when different forms of the same verb are used.

A word may create a definite anticipation that is then twisted to a surprise. Some haiku are written in an elusive style which it would be difficult to render into exact prose. By the repetition of words the reader is encouraged to shift them around and consider various possible interpretations of the scene. In other haiku the text may be perfectly clear and the repetition will serve as an exclamation, an expression of the sense of wonder. A scene will be compressed. A single word is used where normally a full description would be needed.

The repetition will show the reader the value of the word that has been chosen and the richness of meaning within its range.

with many examples

REPETITION CAN INCREASE THE IMPACT OF A HAIKU

source : www.tempslibres.org

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けふもけふも同じ山見て春の雨
kyoo mo kyoo mo onaji yama mite haru no ame

today too, today too
I see the same old mountain ...
rain in spring

Kobayashi Issa
Tr. Gabi Greve



鳴よ鳴よ親なし雀おとなしき
nake yo nake yo oya nashi suzume otonashiki

sing, sing!
orphan sparrow...
so quiet

Kobayashi Issa
Tr. David Lanoue



さくらさくらと唄れし老木哉
sakura sakura to utawareshi oiki kana

"Cherry blossoms! Cherry blossoms!"
they sang
under this old tree

Kobayashi Issa
Tr. David Lanoue

Sakura Sakura is the title of the most famous cherry blossom song.

. . . . .

- - - - - another one by Issa

くよくよとさわぐな翌は翌の露
kuyo-kuyo to sawagu na asu wa asu no tsuyu

The Japanese is 5 7 5, short long short
with NA as a cut marker in the middle of line 2

ku yo ku yo to
sa wa gu na a su wa
a su no tsu yu

This is a lot harder to translate if trying to keep the form of the original.


don't complain
so much - tomorrow brings
tomorrow's drewdrops
Tr. Gabi Greve


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雪山も雪なき山も似し高さ
yukiyama mo yuki naki yama mo nishi takasa

Mountains with snow
and mountains without snow
all the same height

. . . . .


野の果と空の果合ふ鳥雲に
no no hate to sora no hate au tori kumo ni

Where fields
and sky end
birds head north

(Comment by Gabi:
the repetition of NO HATE is not reflected in the translation.)

. . . . .


kyoo nanimo kamo nanimo kamo haru rashiku

Today
Everything, everywhere
says spring

It was a splendid warm day. The gentle sunlight made everyone happy. Winter's cold had come to an end, and suddenly it was spring. When young, I considered haiku as a means to obediently express that joy, and perhaps this poem marks my starting point. When we open our hearts and observe nature, nature speaks to us.
In this poem, I welcomed spring with my whole being.

source : HIA - Inahata Teiko
Co-translations by Kinuko & Richard JAMBOR




. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 .

菜畠やひょいひょいひょいや菊の花
nabatake ya hyoi-hyoi-hyoi ya kiku no hana
na-batake ya hyoi hyoi hyoi ya kiku no hana

canola field --
a chrysanthemum, another
and another
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku is from the 8th intercalary month (October) in 1824, the month after Issa was divorced (after a very short marriage) by his second wife on 8/3 and spent the next four months with some of his students in the vicinity. On intercalary 8/1, the next month, the dazed Issa lost his ability to speak for a while (he communicated by writing), so Issa was on the road and may not have been able to speak when he wrote this hokku.

Issa seems to be standing beside a field of canola plants that have been planted mainly for their seeds, which will become canola oil. The bright yellow flowers have finished blooming long ago, and in a few weeks the green plants will be harvested. They have large leaves, which, along with the stems, will be eaten. Issa seems to be fascinated by the way wild chrysanthemums are able to grow and bloom in the midst of the rather space-consuming canola plants. Here and there the chrysanthemums have managed to find spots with enough air and sunlight to be able to put out their flowers.

Issa manages to find one and then another and then, soon, he's spotted quite a few. As they suddenly come into view one after the other, perhaps they unconsciously remind him of the hidden words which temporarily refuse to come out of his own mouth. The canola plants have lost the Pure Land-like radiance of their flowers, but perhaps the chrysanthemums are suggesting a little of the field's earlier otherworldly luminescence. Issa actually worried about whether Amida could hear him repeat Amida's name only in his mind, without actually uttering it, so perhaps he finds solace in the way the hidden chrysanthemums keep appearing here and there.

Mustard seeds and mustard seed oil are pungent and distinctly different from canola or rapeseed oil, though the flowers are quite similar, so unfortunately I couldn't use "mustard field" for this commercial field of canola plants.

Chris Drake

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次の雪次の雪降りつもる 　　　
tsugi no yuki tsugi no yuki furitsumoru

more snow
more snow
accumulating

Mizumi Hisao 水見壽男



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つばめつばめ泥が好きなる燕かな　
tsubame tsubame doro ga suki naru tsubame kana

Swallows, oh, swallows,
how much you like the mud!
you swallows!
tr. Kageyama Noriko

Hosomi Ayako 細見綾子


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snow is falling
on millions of homes
snow is falling

Taro Kunugi, Japan
facebook Feb. 12, 2011


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the river
the river makes
of the moon

Jim Kacian, 1996
source : kacian.gendaihaiku.com


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bettari 　べったり　


丸く寝た犬にべったり小てふ哉
maruku neta inu ni bettari kochoo kana

totally at rest
on a dog curled up asleep --
small butterfly
Tr. Chris Drake

The onomatopoetic word bettari is hard to translate, because English doesn't have the wide array of delicate sensation and feeling gradations found in the numerous adverbial and adjectival onomatopoetic expressions found in Japanese (and Korean).
. Comment by Chris Drake .


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honobono, hono-bono ほのぼの　-　仄仄　tender feeling
especially at daybreak. dimly, faintly. heartwarming (of a story)

初雪やほのぼのかすむ御式台
. hatsu yuki ya hono-bono kasumu Go-Shikidai .
Kobayashi Issa in Kyoto,Nijoo-joo 二条城 Nijo-Jo Castle



ほのぼのとはららご飯に炊きこまれ
. honobono to hararagohan ni takikomare . 　
Oono Rinka 大野林火 enjoying some cooked rice with salmon roe



. matsu tatete sora honobono to akuru kado .
Natsume Soseki enjoys the pines at the gate



honobono to ariake no tsuki no tsukikage ni
momiji fukiorosu yamaoroshi no kaze

Dimly, dimly,
in the faint pool of moonlight
shadowing the dawn,
red leaves come fluttering down
in a gust of wind from the hills.
Tr. Paul S. Atkins

Murmured Conversations:
A Treatise on Poetry and Buddhism by the Poet-Monk Shinkei
source : muse.jhu.edu/journals - Paul S. Atkins -


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Roly poly Daruma of papermachee





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HAIKU

. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 .

風のおち葉ちょいちょい猫が押へけり
kaze no ochiba choi-choi neko ga osaekeri

barely moving
the cat nails it --
windblown leaf
Tr. Chris Drake


This winter hokku is from the 10th month (November) of 1815, when Issa was traveling around to see various haijin and students in the area east of Edo. The cat seems to be outside. With no wasted motion or forethought, it reaches out and lightly but firmly puts a paw precisely down on one of the fast-moving brown leaves blowing helter-skelter across the ground. Issa seems to be impressed by its spontaneity and naturalness combined with great accuracy.

I take choi-choi to be an adverb here that means 'slightly, barely, lightly, without thinking.' Three hokku later Issa uses a similar adverb, choi-to, that means virtually the same thing:

neko no ko ga choi-to osaeru ochiba kana

lightly stopped
by the kitten's paw
a fallen leaf

The only other time Issa uses choi-choi in his hokku is in a hokku from the 4th month (May) of 1816. Here it's clearly an adverb:

kawahori no choi-choi detari kome-hisago

barely moving
a bat comes out
of a rice gourd

In his house in his hometown Issa heard a bat crying inside an empty gourd used for carrying rice, and in this hokku the lost and perhaps fearful bat emerges very slowly, in an unthreatening way. In this context "barely moving" gains still another meaning.

The phrase choi-choi was also an exclamation of praise resembling "Bravo! Bravo!" and it was often followed by a to marking quotation with the verbs 'to praise; to say.' Without to, it tended to come after the praised thing or was followed by a break (ya or the end of a clause).

The first line has 6 syllables. This might be intended to suggest the unruliness of the leaves blowing in the wind.

Chris Drake
Translating Haiku Forum, January 2013



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Yosa Buson (1716-1783)

をちこちに滝の音聞く若ばかな
ochikochi ni taki no oto kiku wakaba kana

Everywhere
the sound of waterfalls--
tree leaves still young
Tr. Keiji Minato



遠近をちこちとうつきぬた哉
ochikochi ochikochi to utsu kinuta kana

near and far
here and there the beating sound
of fulling blocks
Tr. Gabi Greve


Fulling blocks are mallets used to beat the washing to get it dry during the Edo period.
Buson uses the Chinese characters and hiragana type of spelling words in a masterly way. this is one of the language forms of haiku that just can not be captured in a translation.


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雀子がざくざく浴る甘茶哉
suzumego ga zaku-zaku abiru amacha kana

young sparrows
showered with sweet tea
poured on baby Buddha
Tr. Chris Drake

. Tr. and comment by Chris Drake .


. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .


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猫洗ふざぶざぶ川や春の雨
neko arau zabu-zabu kawa ya haru no ame

splish-splash
the cat washes in the river...
spring rain



づぶ濡の仏立けりかんこ鳥
zubunure no hotoke tachi keri kankodori

Buddha stands
drenched to the bone...
mountain cuckoo



いういうと茨のおくの野梅哉
iu-iu to ibara no oku no no ume kana

cool and calm
deep in the thorn thicket...
blooming plum

Issa's iu-iu signifies yuu-yuutaru　悠々たる: quiet and calm.

Kobayashi Issa
Tr. David Lanoue


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はたはたは母が砧としられけり
hata-hata wa haha ga kinuta to shirare keri

clink-clonk
the one pounding cloth
is Mother



子宝の寝顔見へ見へ砧哉
ko-dakara no ne-gao mie mie kinuta kana

watching her treasured
child's sleeping face...
pounding cloth



Kobayashi Issa
Tr. David Lanoue

WKD : kinuta, the fulling block, pounding cloth


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kerori けろり, kerotto けろっと, kerorinkan 　けろりんかん
completely unconcerned, unfazed, as if nothing had happened, just ...


名月にけろりと立しかがし哉
meigetsu ni kerori to tatashi kagashi kana

under the harvest moon
there it stands, unconcerned -
the scarecrow

Kobayashi Issa
Tr. Gabi Greve


Here is another translation by David Lanoue

in the harvest moonlight
unruffled, unaffected
scarecrow

A friend quoted this as an example for Issa, using two adjectives. But the original does not have two adjectives, but one onomatopoetic word.


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. Akimoto Fujio (1901-1977)

He used a lot of onomatopoetic words in his haiku.
Translations are in the article.


tori wataru kokikokikoki to kan kireba

raitaa no hi ga hohohoho to taki kooru

herohero to wantan susuru kurisumasu



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Related words


. WKD : Rhyme and Rhythm in Haiku .


***** WKD : Basic Haiku Theories



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