"Footprints: Poetry of the American Relocation Camp Experience," trans. and comp. Constance Hayashi and Keiho Yamanaka, Amerasia Journal (1976): 115-17.
[This poetry reflects Japanese American experiences in the ten relocation camps in the American West between 1942 and 1944, where Japanese Americans were subjected to harsh living conditions and loyalty questionnaires that demanded a universal rejection of allegiance to Japan.]
| Kutsuato no |
1. Footprints, |
|---|---|
Yuki no yama ji o negurushii fu ressha — Hibutsu |
2. Snow in mountain pass unable to sleep the prison train |
Shashin daite nete yume mite samete Mizora samui yo yuki no kaze — Sasabune |
3. Falling asleep with a photograph, awakened by a dream, cold snowy wind of Missoula |
Samete no koe seshi mago no kage o oi — Oshio |
4. Awakened again by a voice chasing the shadows of my grandchild |
Tachinoki no shirase o nigiru haru no yo ni haha no mite toru tsuma omoinu — Sojin |
5. Notice of evacuation one spring night the image of my wife holding the hands of my mother |
Zaibei no sanjunen wa yume to nari — Sasabune |
6. Thirty years in America just empty dreams |
Tsuma wa izuko ko wa izuretomo shiranami no taiheiyo engan wa jigoku emaki — Hibutsu |
7. Where is my wife where is my child white waves on the Pacific coast a picture of hell |
Kondo wakare rya aware mo sumai nakoka tomodomo namida no tane ga tsukite kawaite nakenumade — Sasabune. |
8. If we part this time we might never meet again so shall we cry together? until the seeds of our tears dry away and we can cry no more |
Hiroi sora da Nipponjin no homu ga nai — Sunada Toshu |
9. With such a wide sky the Japanese have no home |
Chu fuchu hito moshi kikaba nanto kotaen — Sunada Toshu |
10. Loyalty, disloyalty if asked, what should I answer? |
Saku no naka nu sunde torikau hitogokoro — Nakaido Gensui |
11. Birds, |
Sekitan no yama mo kodomo mo asobi basho — Yamanaka Keiho |
12. Even a mountain |
Umagoya mo sumeba miyako no kaze ga fuki — Hakujaku |
13. If you live in a horse stable the wind of cities blow through |
Gaman shite gaman shite iru hifo no iro — Sanada Kikyo |
14. Endure! We are enduring buy the color of our skin |
Tatakai ni kentaiki ari wahei setsu — Katsuki Sukyuo |
15. Weary of war, rumors of peace |
Kengetsu o funde yakei no mawari kinu — Muin |
16. While making rounds the night sentry steps on the Winter moon |
Iminshi wa owareri akikaze mata samishi — Sanada Kikyo |
17. Immigrant's story |