Contemprary Tanka Poet Mariko Kitakubo.

Mariko Kitakubo Profile

Mariko Kitakubo

Born in Tokyo.
Living in Mitaka-city, Tokyo
Membership
Japan Writers' Association,
Japan PEN Club,
Association of Contemporary Tanka Poets,
Japan Tanka Poets' Society,
Kokoro-No-Hana,
Tan-Ku Co-Founder,
Tanka Society of America.

In commemoration of
15 years of tanka reading
The Latest Tanka Sequence
Original Tanka presented at
Spoken World Live

Contemprary Tanka Poet Mariko Kitakubo. Article details.

Oct. 2012 (vol. 124）

"French Correspondence 36", a section in "KURENAI" Oct. 2012 (vol. 124)

Ms. Yasuko Kudaka, from whom I received lots of assistance when I visited France in Sept. 2012, contributed a wonderful article to "French Correspondence 36", a section in "KURENAI" Oct. 2012 (vol. 124),the tanka journal issued by Ms. Yoko Tamaki.It's really more honor than I deserve.

Below is the excerpted version of the article.

Sept. 21, Friday. Starting at 17:00, Japanese-French bilingual tanka reading performance session was held at the Centre Cultuel Italien in Quartier latin, Paris.Ms. Kitakubo chanted her own tanka in Japanese, and Mr. Antonio Francica, the Director of Centre Cultuel Italien, performed reading of the translated version of her works in French.

It was obvious that the translation was carefully done to refrect Ms. Kitakubo's message accurate. Audience expressed how much they were moved with their performance.

Since it was released as a Japanese-English bilingual event in the newsletter issued beforehand, many questions were asked to Ms. Kitakubo in English.
Some questions are,
"In which hierarchy in a society do those who read Tanka belong to?
Are they in a special circumstances?
Or, even common people write Tanka, too?"
"Do Emperor's family create Tanka?"
"When did Tanka started? How did it develop?"
"Are there any non-Japanese Haiku poets?
How about non-Japanese Tanka poets?"

There was a person who expressed how much he was moved.
"Ms. Kitakubo's Tanka is rooted from pure sincerity to wish for peace. I am deeply moved by her poems. I am filled with tranquility."

The more you hear or read her work, the deeper message you get from Ms. Kitakubo's tanka. For the purpose of interenationalization of Tanka, Ms. Kitakubo performed English-Japanese tanka reading many times in English-speaking countries.

I hope Tanka serves as a catalyst for the communication and interaction between Japanese-French, and with other language speakers. I sincerely wish it helps to create world's peace.

*I am so greatful to the assisntance of Mr. Metwally "Tsukasa" Gamal and Ms. Yasuko Kudaka for their amazing translation work into French.