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personal interpreter

July 30, 2006 in drawing | 5 comments


(click the image to view close up)

freshly drawn today.

the japanese writing on the left says, “i-ro-ha”. it’s the beginning of a japanese poem, the iroha. nihongo (the japanese language) has a syllabary, not an alphabet. the iroha poem contains each syllable exactly once. it was written sometime in the heian era (794-1192, when kyoto was the capital), and was used as an ordering system for the japanese syllables (kana) until the meiji era (late 19th century).

the original japanese poem:
いろはにほへと
ちりぬるを
わかよたれそ
つねならむ
うゐのおくやま
けふこえて
あさきゆめみし
ゑひもせす

(in translation:)
Though fragrant are the colors,
Yet shall the flowers scatter.
Who in our world
Could forever endure?
Over the mountain of transcendence
Let us today cross,
And there will be no more shallow dreams,
No more drunken illusions.

(translation from here)

(sold)

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5 comments

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July 31, 2006 at 10:04 am

Vee

this is very beautiful–both the drawing and the poem. いろは certainly puts the abc song in its place…also this is the first time i’ve ever seen a ゑ！very interesting.

July 31, 2006 at 2:50 pm

yukayamaguchi

thanks vee-chan! i hear that ゑ and katakana version ヱ are often used among young girls for cellphone letters nowadays. it’s called “gal-go”.
i’m not a gal anymore, but i’d like to use them too. such a nice font.

August 1, 2006 at 11:37 am

Bea at La Tartine Gourmande

I love it! This is such a great interpretation!

August 2, 2006 at 4:09 pm

yukayamaguchi

thank you Béatrice!
happy to see you here.
your food and photography is the beauty!!!!

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