Ame ni mo makezu is a poem by Miyazawa Kenji (1896–1933), a poet from northern Iwate Prefecture on Honshū , Japan . The poem was found in a small black notebook in one of his suitcases after the poet's death. Its theme refers to the Buddhist Lotus Sutra妙法 蓮華 經 (Chapter 14: Peaceful and Joyful Deeds / Jp. Anrakugyō 安 楽 行).
The text of the poem can be found below in Japanese, as a romanization in Rōmaji and in a German translation. This version includes some kanji , other versions only have katakana .
ame ni mo makezu
kaze ni mo makezu
yuki ni mo natsu no atsusa ni mo makenu
jōbu na karada wo mochi
yoku wa naku
kesshite ikarazu
itsu mo shizuka ni waratte iru
ichi nichi ni genmai yon gō to
miso to sukoshi wooto woo.
arasai tabe
jibun where kanjo ni irezu ni
yoku mikiki shi wakari
Soshite wasurezu
Nohara no matsu no hayashi no kage no
chiisa na Kayabuki no koya ni ite
higashi ni byōki no kodomo Areba
itte kanbyō shite yari
nishi ni tsukareta haha Areba
itte sono ine no taba where oi
minami ni shinisō na hito areba
itte kowagaranakute mo ii to ii
kita ni kenka ya soshō ga areba
tsumaranai kara yamero to ii
hideri no toki wa namida wo nagashi
samusa no natsu wa oro-oro aruki
minna ni deku-no-bō to
yobezuerare mo sobezuerare
ku ni mo sarezu
sō iu mono ni
watashi wa naritai
Even braving the rain
and the wind
both the snow and the heat of summer
with a resisting healthy body
without desire
never angrily
Always peacefully smiling
Daily four cups unpolished rice and
miso and some vegetables to eat
my utmost do
not in myself thinking
Good look and listen and understand
and don't forget to be
in the shade of the pine grove in the meadow
in a small thatched hut
When there is a sick child in the east,
go there and help
watch over the sick bed
When in the west there is an exhausted mother and shoulder her bundle of rice
When in the south a dying one People
go there and say they don't need to be afraid
When there is a fight or legal battle in the north
Say to stop the worthless
In times of drought shedding tears
In the cold summer walking around perplexed Being
called foolish by all fools
Not being praised
Not causing grief
So
I want to become
a person
style
Miyazawa chose to write the poem in katakana . This is stylistically strange from a modern point of view, since today katakana are normally only used to mark loan words ( gairaigo ) in Japanese . At the time of writing, however, katakana were preferred to hiragana as a syllabic script . The limited use of kanji may be seen as a step to make the poem more accessible to the rural populations of northern Japan with whom the poet lived.
Remarks
It is important to know that cold summers in Japan mean poor rice harvests, hence the line "Walking around perplexed in the cold summer".
The transcription above is direct and reflects the orthographic practice in Miyazawa's time. For example コハガ ラ ナ ク テ (ko ha garanakute) would be given today as コワガ ラ ナ ク テ (ko wa garanakute), イヒ (i hi ) as イイ (i i ) and サウ ( sa u) as ソウ ( so u ).
