Commentaries

Ashura-chō 阿修羅帖 三 [第三卷]

(The Ashura Notebook, Volume 3), 1926

Japanese and Non-English Transcripts and English Translations of Translated Commentaries for the Annotated Volume 3

Transcriptions of Translated Commentaries, Volume 3

Translation and transcription of Takekoshi Yosaburō's commentary on Sketch 204: Birdman and Poet-Sage

From Heaven’s heights the rainbow-robed dancer glides,

The immortal, clad in gauze raiment,

Descends amidst the mountains.

— Sansa

霓裳舞谷天上

來羅衣仙入山

中降

— 三叉

Translation and transcription of Anezaki Masaharu's commentary on Sketch 208: Germany and Austria Are Forced Back

Pushed and shoved,

driven back and forth,

a white flag is raised,

yet the red banner still flies.

— Chōfū

おしつおされつ

押し戻されて

たてる白旗

赤いはた

— 嘲風

Translation and transcription of Aoki Tetsuji's commentary on Sketch 210: War Decorations for the Japan–Germany War

1. To sponsor and receive praise and rewards is also loyalty.

2. My own purse doesn’t mind a bit [literally, my stomach does not ache] and the public coffers are generous too.

3. Just for a moment’s glory – hooray for the fellow with a Third-Class medal! 

4. But where in the world did that grand total of ‘merits’ end up? 

5. Now look at our self-styled patriot: paid off, he dashes away like a rabbit! 

6. Whoa there, pricey patriot! No elbowing each other!

7. Ah, this is a bit much perhaps, but no need to be shy.

— Kosui [aka] Aoki Tetsuji

一、協賛をして褒美賞ふも忠義なり。

二、吾腹痛むにあらず總花も氣まへよく。

三、一寸立ち勲三貰ふ蟲のよさ。

四、功績の總〆高は何處へ消え。

五、貰ひぷり脱兎の如き忠義者。

六、押すな〱高價なる愛國者。

七、是りや少し多いけれども遠慮なく。

— 古水事 靑木徹二

Translation and transcription of Narusawa Kinbei's commentary on Sketch 213: Romanian Army Invades Austro-Hungary

Artificial borders turn people into beasts.

— Reisen

人為の国境ハ

人弓を動物

にする

— 玲川

Translation and transcription of Katō Kumaichirō's commentary on Sketch 214: Cholera Epidemic [Tiger Plague]

Lord Kiyomasa is at home*

— Totsudō

清正公

在宅

— 咄堂

*Seishōkō (清正公) is an honorific title for Katō Kiyomasa the first lord of Kumamoto domain. Nicknamed the "Tiger Killer," after his death he was venerated as a god and widely worshipped for victory and protection from misfortunes.

Translation and transcription of Tokugawa Yorimichi's commentary on Sketch 217: Romania in Peril

“Shouting ‘lu!’ and ‘zhi!’” [reckless gambling]

Taishō 9 (1920), kōshin year 

— Gakojō*

seals following signature: 

top seal: Tokugawa Yorimichi 

bottom seal: possible readings Gakojō or Torafusujō

乎盧喝雉 [呼盧喝雉]

大正庚申

— 臥虎城

印（上）徳川頼道 

印（下）臥虎城  

*Tokugawa Yorimichi (signing under his pen name 臥虎城 - possible readings Gakojō or Torafusujō) captions the scene with the idiom 呼盧喝雉 (also written 乎盧喝雉), the gamblers’ cries for the highest (“lu” 盧) and next-highest (“zhi” 雉) throws in an old Chinese dice game. He likens Romania’s August 1916 decision to join the Allied Powers, aiming to recover Transylvania, to a reckless wager.

Translation and transcription of Seki Kazutomo's commentary on Sketch 218: United States Presidential Election

To chase deer in the central plains*

Summer 1920**

— Hakuyō 

中原逐鹿
庚申夏 白洋

— 庚申

*A Chinese idiom for a fight among rivals for the throne.

**Metal Monkey (57th term of the sexagenary cycle.)

Translation and transcription of Itō Chūta's commentary on Sketch 220: Austrian Emperor Officially Dies

Three emperors: “Farewell.”
Emperor: “We shall meet again in hell.”

— Chūta

三帝「左様なら

墺帝「また地獄でお目にかゝりましやう

— 忠太

Translation and Transcription of Takasu Yoshijirō's commentary on Sketch 221: Katharina the Seductress

With white hands

She toys with men—

The spring breeze

— Baikei

白き手に
人弄ぶや
春の風

— 梅溪

Translation and transcription of Takahara Misao's commentary on Sketch 222: Japan’s Hard Currency Reserves Soar, Prices Skyrocket

The state prospers while the people starve.

— Kanjippō, in haste*

國富民餓

— 臥十万忽

*The meaning of the character 忽 at the end of his signed pen name is unclear. My best guess at what this stylistic suffix may be intended to convey is something written "in haste."

Translation and transcription of Ōgimachi Suetada's commentary on Sketch 224: Germany Proposes Peace Talks

Clerk:
“A piece of old cloth that’s been worn out for three years so that even the weave is no longer discernible and the cotton stuffing is coming out — you’re asking me to take it back at the original price? No matter how much we’re in the secondhand clothing trade, that’s something we just can’t discuss.”

— Mutekian

番頭

「三年も着つぶして綿目もわか

らなくなった古布子、綿が出た

から元値に引取れではいくら古

着渡世の手前共でも御相談にな

りませんや」 

— 無的庵

Translation and transcription of Sugimura Kōtarō's commentary on Sketch 225: Peace Proposal Causes Panic Among Nouveau Riche

Creeping out stealthily, like a mole cricket,
The mole cricket is bewildered by the rising sun.
Ah, the world is in turmoil, and life is ruled by money;
When peace returns, it goes back to its old ways again.
Ever changing is the lot of human beings,
So very much like that of the mole cricket.

— So[jinkan]

暗に這ひ出たむぐらもち

日が出てまごつくむぐらもち

鳴呼世亂れて歩は金に

治まりては又元の歩に

且つかはり行く人の身は

むぐらもちにも似たるかな

— 楚

Translation and transcription of Sugimura Kōtarō's commentary on Sketch 226: Greece in Distress

Right: “Venizelos!”
Left: “Constantine!”

— So[jinkan]

石 「ヴェニゼロスよ

左 「コン スタンチンよ

— 楚

Translation and transcription of Aijima Kanjiro's commentary on Sketch 227: Ōnishiki Undefeated

In the midst of the crowd,

the form fades from sight—

the victorious wrestler.

— Kyokō

見物中に

消ゆる姿や

勝力士

— 虛吼

Translation and transcription of Nakano Seigō's commentary on Sketch 230: Mad Monk Rasputin Assassinated

The demon monk chills one’s guts.

— above phrase [originally penned by] Fujita Tōko

— calligraphy by Seigō*

妖僧肝後寒

— 益田系湖 右句

— 正剛書

*“The demon monk chills one’s guts” is a phrase from the writings of Fujita Tōko (1806–1855), a Confucian thinker whose ideas shaped the sonnō jōi (“Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians”) movement that helped topple the Tokugawa shogunate.

Translation and transcription of Ichimura Sanjirō's commentary on Sketch 233: Debate over China’s Entry into the War

If it can be made close,
then it can be made distant;

if it can be made beneficial,
then it can be made harmful;

if it can confer honor,

then it can confer disgrace.

— Kidō

可得而親則

可得而疎可得
而利則可得

而貴

— 器堂

Translation and transcription of Watanabe Masaru's commentary on Sketch 237: German Warships Disrupt the Indian Ocean

— Katei

In the ink-stained station I awaken—

a slight chill—

from a dream of blossoms.

— 霞亭

留墨場に

覚める

小寒し

花の夢

Translation and transcription of Murakawa Kengo's commentary on Sketch 239: Great Russian Revolution

You foul old men, in a high tower on a spouting volcano indulged in the pleasures of wine-filled ponds and forests of flesh !
How long do you think we shall endure your oppression?

— Murakata Kengo

噴火山上の高廈

に酒池肉林の樂を

貪って居た馬鹿

老爺！

いつまで御前等

の抑壓を甘受

する俺たちと

思ふ ?

— 村川堅固 

Translation and transcription of Narusawa Kinbei's commentary on Sketch 242: Giant Frog Stirs Up Waves, Insect Swarms Awaken

old pond.....
a frog leaps in
water's sound*

The swarming insects of the world have their dreams shattered by that splash… “Uh-oh—Russia’s red frog has pulled off something tremendous!” And, wondering what the outcome will be, they sit gripping their sweaty hands.

— Reisen

古池や
蛙とびこむ
水の音

世界の群虫その水音に夢を

破られ …… スワこそ露國の
赤蛙奴がドエライ事を仕出

來したり…… 結果如何にと
手に汗を握る。

— 玲川

*haiku by Matsuo Bashō

Translation and transcriptionof Iba Takashi's commentary on Sketch 243: Deposed Russian Emperor Repents

Rasputin—if staged as an opera, he’d be Escamillo*

— Iba Takashi

ラスプチン

オペラでやれば

エスカミロ

— 伊庭孝

*The bullfighter in Bizet's Carmen

Translation and transcription of Katō Tokijirō's commentary on Sketch 249: German Army Boils Corpses to Extract Oil

There was a time when reports that German soldiers extracted glycerin from corpses were used as a tool to incite hatred.

But all over the world, the blood and sweat of the living are being squeezed to generate wealth.
If boiling the dead is considered pitiful, then isn’t it even sadder to set them on fire and burn them?
In India, there are religious rites in which vultures are fed human remains.
Extracting glycerin from corpses could be seen as a highly efficient form of waste recycling.

Long ago, the monk Ikkyū exclaimed:

"When I die, do not burn me, do not bury me—
cast me out into the fields
and fatten the belly of a starving dog."

If we read this sketch as a depiction of modern capitalists, it becomes all the more striking.

August 4, 1920

— Katō Tokijirō

獨兵が死屍から甘油を取つたとて敵視心

をそゝる道具にしたことかあつたけれど
も、生きてる人間の膏血を絞つて財産を作
ることが何所にでも行はれてゐる。死者を
煮ることが氣の毒なら、火をつけて燒くこ
とは尚は可哀そうぢやないか。印度には鷲
に屍肉を喰はせる宗教的儀式もある。死體
から甘油を取るのは廢物利用の上乘なも
のではないか。其昔一休は喝破して

われ死なば燒くな埋むな野に棄てゝ
痩せたる犬の腹を肥せよ

此繪は現代の資本家を描いたと見ると一

層面白い

大正九年八月四日
— 時次郎

Translation and transcription of Narusawa Kinbei's commentary on Sketch 252: General Election of the House of Representatives, Part 3

Victory or defeat
is a matter of fortune......and campaign expenses.
Watching a sumo match
where the outcome is predetermined—
the hired wrestler always wins—
only a fool would sit through such a sham.

— Reisen

勝敗は 

時の運……動費 

最初からお雇ひ力士が勝 

つにきまつてゐる相撲を 

見せられる見物こそ本統 

に好い面の皮だ

— 玲川

Translation and transcription of the commentary attributed to Kobayashi Ichizō on Sketch 253: China's Participation in the War?

— Itsuzan

Old man coaxed into leaping in - [joining the] Bon Dance

— 逸山

そかして飛び込む爺や　盆踊

[Sokashite, tobikomu jiji ya, Bon Odori]

Translation and transcription of Okakura Yoshisaburō's commentary on Sketch 255: Russia and Austria Lack the Will to Fight

New Bushidō

Enemy or ally, strip them bare—

both are human.

Well, how can one human slay another?

— Kuregishi

新武士道

敵みかた

はだかに剥けば

人とひと

どうまあ人に

ひとが斬られう

—呉岸

Shin-bushidō

Teki mikata

hadaka ni mukeba

hito to hito

dō maa hito ni

hito ga kirareu

— Kuregishi

Translation and transcription of Hino Kumazō's commentary on Sketch 259: German Aircraft Threaten Britain

In a flash, quicker than lightning, everything was torn apart.
A searing black cloud of TNT, streaked with violet lightning,
and in that instant, far off between the clouds,
a formation of Taube aircraft came into view...
The next moment: total silence.

From the very start of the war, Germany’s aerial strategy involved a grave error.
Relying on massive airships,
they merely provoked the enemy’s development of aerial defenses.
By the time they turned to airplanes, the opportunity had already passed.

Germany’s state academy and military bureaucracy,
despite representing a nation said to enjoy relatively free thought,
pinned their hopes on the grand symbol of their militarism,
the Zeppelin,
and in so doing, miscalculated their military policy.

That the military elite, who commanded the army and led the nation,
could err so greatly,
even while appearing so grand,
evokes in me a particularly deep impression as I look upon this picture. 

I record it here.

Taishō 9 (1920), August 30

Hino Chūsa [Lieutenant Colonel Hino]

電光石火萬物皆裂ク「トロチル」ノ爛々タル黒煙紫電ヲ帯ビ雲間遥カニ「タウベ」ノ一列ヲ見ル一刹那・・・・・・ 忽ヲニシテ四邊寂然

只獨ノ航空敵策ハ大戰當初ヨリ一大過失ヲ冒シタリ、其形大 ナル飛行船ヲ以テ徒ラニ敵ノ空防稱ヲ促シ后ニ至リテ飛行機ヲ用フルモ既ニ運シ

學第ニハ比較的思想ノ自由ヲ享ケタリト稱セラル、獨逸官學軍閥ノ代表トモ云フヘキ偉大ナル「ツェ[ッ]ペリン」ニアラヌ望ヲ繋キ其軍國策ヲ誤リタリト云フベキカ

軍閥ノ軍ヲ領ケ邦ヲ誤マル又偉ナルモノアリ此圖ニ對シテ感殊ニ深キモノアリ之ヲ誌ス

大正九年八月三十日

日野中佐

Translation and transcription of Kawaji Makoto's commentary on Sketch 264: Thoughts on a German–Russian Peace

The man who had been stripped naked
longed for his former wife.
Locked in a prison like this,
there’s nothing he can do—
he pleads earnestly for anything that might help.

“It’ll be just as you say,”
“Please, somehow, save me,”
says Russia, extending a scrawny hand.

“Hmm... I suppose I’ll agree,”
replies the former wife, calculating slightly.
Hardened by all the storms of life—
she’s a seasoned woman.

Not knowing what kind of answer
she might eventually give,
he simply prostrates himself and begs.

A naked man accepting humiliation—
and the German wife lets out a faint smirk.

— Kawaji Ryūkō

裸にされた男は、 

むかしの女房が戀しい、 

こんな牢にいれられては何とも出來ない、 

何でも伸よくずることだ。

おまへさんの言ふとほりになるよ、 

どうか救けておくれよと、 

痩せこけた手をさし出したロシア、 

うむ、承知はしてやるがねと、

すこし胸算用ありげな女房、 

海千山千のしたゝかものが、 

どんな返事をするかともしらずに、 

たゞ手をついて拜まんばかり、

屈辱は承知の裸男、 

ちょいとほくそ笑んだドイツのおかみさんさ。

— 川路柳虹

Translation and transcription of Maeda Matayoshi's commentary on Sketch 265: Government Suffers, People Grow Fat

At this rate, before long the Cabinet will hole up in a room at the Mitsui Bank, or the Prime Minister himself may end up as a guest of Mitsubishi. Eventually, as a means of relieving unemployed officials, some hare-brained fellow may even propose turning the government into a joint-stock company. Who can say such an absurd scheme will not appear? Don’t think I’m exaggerating.

A government that concerns itself solely with industry and bread, said Alcott, is nothing more than a lifeless corpse. Indeed, such a government is bound, in the end, to become alienated and perish.

— Maeda Renzan

此の鹽梅では、今に内閣が三井銀行の一室に引込み、或は總理大臣が三菱の食客になるかも知れぬ。遂には官吏救濟策として、政府を株式會社にしやうなんテ途方もない目論見を立てる者までが飛び出さぬとも限らないだらう。敢て嚇かすのぢやありません。

單に實業と麵包のみを保護する政府は一個の屍骸に過ぎないとアルコットは喝破したが、如何さま、そんな政府は結局離れて亡びるに定まつて居る。

— 前田蓮山

Translation and transcription of Ishikawa Yasujirō's commentary on Sketch 267: Li Yuanhong Seeks Refuge at the Japanese Legation

The depiction of President Li coming to our legation during the Zhang Xun Restoration incident is truly fascinating. As for the revived fever for restoring the Xuantong emperor, although the Manchu court was by no means without a plan, in the end it was never carried out and came to nothing.

— Ishikawa Hanzan

張勳ノ復辟騒動ニ際シ黎ガ我ガ公使舘ニ來リシヲ描キタルハ如何ニモ面白シ唯宣統帰熱洵ニ蒙鹿ハ計畫ハナキニ非リシモ實行ニ至ラズシテ止ミタリ

— 石川半山

Translation and transcription of Sugimura Kōtarō's commentary on Sketch 270: 39th Diet Session, Part 2

One said, "He is so exhausted that his fall cannot be far off—yet is it right to rush forward and strike him down?’"

Another replied, "You only wait for him to fall so that you may claim the credit of picking him up again. Can you truly bear to leave such a pitiful figure lying there, even for a moment? It is your pretended loyalty that you ought to be ashamed of!"

— So

疲れて落ちなんも遠かるまじきに急ぎて叩き落すことやあるべきと一人の言へば、なれは落つるを待つて拾はんず心なるべし見苦しの姿を一目もそのまゝにすておき得んや、なれが忠義ぶりこそ心得ねと一人がいきまく

— 楚

Translation and transcription of Narusawa Kinbei's commentary on Sketch 274: Dawn of Peace Appears

The dawn light appears,
and the stage darkens—
a scene of “peace.”
A pack of wolves, locked in their own struggle,
deftly dons the skins of sheep.
Their fangs and claws are like rows of sharp sickles,
and eyes as fierce as windows into hell
lie hidden beneath their masks.

The evening clouds sink low,
and the stage turns once more—
a scene of war.
If this cycle is to be repeated,
then keep a hopeful backdrop ready:
without “the dawn of peace,”
no stage can be complete.

— Reisen

曙光が見えて
舞臺は暗轉
「平和」の場面
噛み合つた狼の群が
神妙に綿羊の皮を被る
利鎌を並べたやうな牙と爪
地獄の窓のやうに凄い眼が
假面の下に隱されてゐる。

夕雲低くれて
舞臺は再轉
戰爭の場面
・・・・・が繰返されゝば
ホープフルなバック
「平和の曙光」が無くてはならぬ
書割として取つて置け。

— 玲川

Translation and transcription of Sugimura Kōtarō's commentary on Sketch 275: Stagnation in the War Situation

“Oh, I’m exhausted—let’s take a break and then start fighting again.”

— So[jinkan]

「おゝしんど一服してから又喧嘩しまほ」

— 楚

Translation and transcription of Masao Tōkichi's commentary on Sketch 276: Siam Declares War on Germany and Austria

Let justice be upheld.

— Phraya Mahithon

ให้ บำรุง ยุติธรรม ไว้
— พระยา มหิธร

Translation and transcription of Satō Tetsutarō's commentary on Sketch 279: Three Years Since War Began

The patterns are distinct, yet they do not emerge; what do you say? 

— Aikei Tetsu

斑々不出作麼生 

— 藍溪鐵

Translation and transcription of Ubukata Toshirō's commentary on Sketch 281: China and Russia Compete in Degeneracy

When it comes to vice,

there’s no shortage of company

in the springtime streets;

it’s hardly only the Chinese and Russians

who are to blame, is it?

— Ubukata Toshirō

墮落には
道連れ多し
春の街

穴勝ち支露ばか

りとも限ります

まい

— 生方敏郞

Translation and transcription of Narusawa Kinbei's commentary on Sketch 282: China Enters the War

How convenient this wartime bargain—
China, without fighting a single battle,
gets to be counted as a belligerent.

— Reisen

有難い戰時相場
一戰もせぬ支那が
參戰で通るとは

—玲川

Translation and transcription of Irisawa Tatsukichi's commentary on Sketch 284: Comparison of Average Heights by Country

This little body of five shaku is nothing but courage.

— Irisawa Tatsukichi

五尺小身渾是膽

—入澤達吉

Translation and transcription of Shiba Chūzaburō's commentary on Sketch 286: The Hunger of Iron-Eating Beasts

Watchman
Gatekeeper / Rice-dealer Tetsuzō

“You look terribly gaunt—poor fellow, you must be starving!”

“Eh? From now on it’s going to be ‘self-sufficiency,’ you say?”

“Hmph—more like ‘perpetual insufficiency’!”

— Shiba Chū

番人
米屋鐵蔵

「エライガツ〱して居るな、腹が減つちゃ氣の毒だね！」

「エー、これからは『自給自足』 だつて？

「フーン『始終不足だ』だ」

— 司馬仲

Translation and transcription of Tsukamoto Yasushi's commentary on Sketch 287: A Series of Baronial Deaths

The name of "Baron" is written again in the Book of Deeds.

— Juntei

男爵連りに死す

閻魔帳又男爵と書きつヾけ

— 准亭

Danshaku tsugari ni shisu

Enmachō mata danshaku to kakitsuzuke

—Juntei 

Translation and transcription of Ikuta Kōji's commentary on Sketch 289: Fall of Riga

Gaunt, skeletal wretches,

crunching and crunching,

sink their teeth

into “Apple-land.”*

— Ikuta Chōkō

がりがり亡者

がりがりと

リンゴクを

嚙りけり

— 生田長江

* "Apple-land" (Ringoku) is a pun for the city of Riga.

Translation and transcription of Sugimura Kōtarō's commentary on Sketch 291: Fall of Dvinsk

Hardly the effort of a single stride.

— [sealed] Sojinkan

一投足の労

— 楚人冠

Translation and transcription of Nagata Hidejirō's commentary on Sketch 295: Turkish Sultan Dies Suddenly; Rumors of Three Assassinated Ministers

To the leafy bashō [banana],

What will it do,

This autumn wind?*

— A verse recorded by Seiran

芭蕉葉は

何になれとや

秋の風

— 録記人之句 野青嵐

*haiku by Bashō’s disciple Rotsū (1649-1738) from The "Monkey’s Raincoat" 猿蓑.

Translation and transcription of commentary attributed to Ikuta Sai on Sketch 297: Germany Repels Italian Army, Takes Trieste from Austria

Santarō
“Trieste? With a name like that, wouldn’t it be fine to just take it?”

Father
“You fool, you know nothing. Trieste is Austria’s only port leading to the Mediterranean. I remembered its name because, back when I was learning English, I linked it with the word tourist—it sounded similar, you see.”

Santarō
“So you already knew then, Father—that it was like ‘tourist,’ traveling from one country to another?”

— Ikuta Sai*

三太郎

「トリエスト云ふから獲りいゝんでしやう。」

父

「馬鹿、ものしらず、トリエストと云ふ處は墺太利に取っては唯一の地中海の方へ出る港だったのだ、御父さんは英語の習ひたてに tourist と云ふ文字を此の港の名に通じさして覺えたものだ。」

三太郎

「御父さんには其の時分から解って居たのですか tourist であることが、彼方の國や此方の國へと。」 

— 生田蔡

*The commentator for this sketch, listed in the table of contents as 生田蔡 is unknown, as is the correct reading of his name.

Translation and transcription of Kishibe Fukuo's commentary on Sketch 298: Russia like a Revolving Lantern

Well now, another ghost has appeared again.
The first fellow loved despotism,
the second fellow loved destruction,
the third fellow loved violence—
so what kind of creature will come out next, I wonder?

— Shiryū

そりゃこそ、おばけが又出たぞ
先なる奴めは、専制スキイ
中なる奴めは、破壊スキイ
後なる奴めは、乱暴スキイ
續いて出るのは、何んじゃろな

— 子柳

Translation and transcription of Arashima Takeo's commentary on Sketch 300: Russia in Darkness

Russia does not, in the end, fall into darkness.

— Arishima Takeo

露國遂に暗黒ならず

— 有島武郞