Wednesday 4 August. At breakfast we spoke about the new sparrow nest by the barn, and grandpa said that snakes try to eat the chicks. I told them I ain’t afraid of no snakes, so my job is to make sure the chicks stay safe..
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The chicks were fine today. Afterwards I fed Cowcow, and massaged a cow’s udders to get more milk. Midori meanwhile was working hard helping her dad, shovelling hay.
Then I had a look in the chicken coop and found an egg. Aunty said I can eat it with my dinner. We never have fresh eggs like this in the city. Then I went slippy-slidey down the hill, found some bottle caps on the way, and visited Megumi. Turns out she makes glass sculptures and owns the glass shop at the bottom of the hill. They’re pretty and hang in the window of her store.
Inside her workshop I saw a shelf of hers, and I knew that if I went near it everything would collapse and break - I must never touch Megumi’s delicate sculptures. Then I spoke to Haiku Man. His poem was about Genghis Kahn, so I gave him a low score.For dinner we had chicken nuggets, asparagus salad, and stewed tomatoes with corn. Afterwards I went outside and caught my first firefly!
There sure seem to be a lot of bottle caps in the Japanese countryside.
ReplyDeleteIt can't even be anti-Genghis Khan?
ReplyDeleteHardcore.
I've read the translation, and the Genghis Khan one doesn't quite make sense... Something like:
ReplyDeleteBlowing wind
Through this house
Genghis Khan
I Think I've figured the weird haiku out! I suspected that there was some sort of pun or other cultural thing involved in the "Ghengis Khan" reference, and I was right! As it turns out, "jingisukan" is a grilled mutton dish that's popular in Hokkaido (where the game takes place).
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingisukan
By looking at the picture of the haiku construction menu (day 6), I then did my own translation (based on my admittedly somewhat limited Japanese skills) which reads as follows:
The wind smells sweet
tonight at the house
(it's) grilled mutton
Still isn't what I would call the height of poetry, but it at least makes some sense as a bit of mildly punny nostalgia.
Fantastic! Thank you, that makes a lot more sense. I had assumed he was implying the Genghis Khan rode like the wind or something.
ReplyDeleteGreat work!