【抑留者の俳句】1 Haiku by internees 1

死に水も凍りて飲めず捕虜ゆけり　鈴木八郎 　　　

　　『続シベリア俘虜記　抑留俳句選集』より

戦争が終わっても生きて祖国へ帰り着くことのできない兵士がたくさんいた。捕虜となってシベリア等に強制抑留された人たちだ。死者は5万5千に上る。

しかし収容所の中で俳句が詠まれ、ひそかに句会も開かれていた。「自分を見失わずに済んだのは、俳句と句友のお蔭」ある生還者の証言だ。まさに自他救済である。

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【Haiku by internees】1

The last water frozen

on his dead lips—

the prisoner of war passed on 　　　　　　　　 　 Suzuki Hachirō

From Chronicles of a Prisoner of War in Siberia, continued: Haiku of Internment

Many of the soldiers who survived the war were unable to return to Japan because they remained prisoners of war and were interned in Siberia. 55,000 of them died.

But haiku were written in the camps, and haiku circles met clandestinely. “It was only thanks to haiku and my fellow poets that I did not lose myself and was able to keep on,” testified one who returned alive. How true it is that helping others can mean saving oneself.

　　　 　Translation © Janine Beichman