This is what I desire the most at the moment, peace of mind. However, I definitely want to keep on challenging even for the sake of my mother who continuously gives fits to me.
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今一番欲しいもの。でも、挑戦はし続けたい。私を心配させ続ける母のためにも。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
My mother with mental disorder seems to be forgetting many things from the past. She definitely liked shaved ice, however, it doesn’t interest her any more at present.
Kindness called forgetting/
Oh, shaved ice/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
精神を病んでいる母は、昔のことをどんどん忘れていっているようです。かき氷が大好きだったのに、今では興味も示しません。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Do you often hug your mother? This kind of physical contact is not very common in Japanese parent-child relation. However, since my mother became mentally ill, it is a daily occurrence for us. Strangely enough, I no longer feel hesitant or shy to offer a hug or express my true feelings to her.
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お母さんを抱きしめたりしますか。私は、母が精神を病んでからというもの、しょっちゅう抱きしめています。そういうことや、心の底の本音を話し合うことが不思議に自然にできるようになりました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Since both my mother and myself caught the flue for the first time in years, I haven’t been able to post a new entry for long.
A child suffering from flu/
Insists/
Yokai ogre caused it/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
長い間、新しい記事を書けませんでした。母も私も何年かぶりにインフルエンザに罹ってしまいましたので。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
As in the evening of January 1st around seven o’clock my mother grew fretful like a little child, I put her on her wheel chair and we went out for a walk.
Then we found the crescent moon and the evening star beautifully shining. I straightforwardly admired my own mother for her expressing pure gratitude to the stars’ beauty.
Star and Moon/
Facing and smiling to each other/
To their beauty/
Mother/
Extended gratitude/
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元日の夕刻７時頃、母が子供のようにむずかるので、車椅子に乗せて散歩に出ました。
西の空に三日月と金星が向かい合って美しかったです。母がその美しさに対して感謝していて、素直に偉いなあと思いました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
These are for my mother and myself wishing us have a very good first dream of the year.
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いい初夢が見られますように。母の分と２枚です。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
These are for my mother’s longtime best friend who always cares about my mother.
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
いつも母を気遣ってくださる母の旧いお友達のために二人で書きました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
December 13 has been supposed to be the day when people start preparation for the New Year. I put mother’s work and mine at the entrance of our house.
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今日は１２月１３日で、事始め。玄関に母の作品と一緒に飾りました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
The couple next door to us have been really kind and considerate to both my mother and me. Yesterday, my mother and I practiced calligraphy for the first time in months. The photo shows what she wrote for them, including as you see, something out of season.
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
お隣のご夫妻は母と私に本当に良くしてくださいます。昨日は母と久しぶりにお稽古をしましたが、母は写真の色紙などをお隣さんのために書きました。中には季節外れのものもありますが。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
This festive event has now firmly fixed in Japan. I somehow have a liking for the ornaments of witches, wizards, pumpkins and what not.
Oh, Halloween!/
Only candy/
Witches’ bags have/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
この催しも日本に完全に定着しました。魔女とか魔法使いとかカボチャとかの飾り付けが何とも好きです。
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I keep taking walks a couple of times day after day asked by my mother who loves going out. Just despite myself, I made an eardrop from the flowers blooming at the side of our usual walking course and put it on my mother’s ear for fun.
Red spider lilies/
Splendor both/
In clusters and alone/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
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母にねだられて、散歩、散歩の日々。思わず彼岸花で耳飾りを作って、母親をネタに遊んでしまいました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Tonight we could have seen the beautiful harvest moon. However, unfortunately it was cloudy. I made this haiku for my mother who loves to see the moon, especially the full moon.
Mother is eighty-eight/
Toward the harvest moon/
Is cloudy sky/
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今夜は中秋の名月のはずでしたが、ずっと曇り空。米寿を得た母は月を観るのが好きなので、この俳句を書きました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
September 11 was my teacher’s birthday. He was born in the year of dragon, and also my mother was born in the year of that imaginary creature.
“Dragon flies up into the sky.”
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今日は師匠の誕生日です。彼は辰年生まれでした。母もそうなんです。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
After my mother wrote this the other day for my old friend, she also created this one, “happiness”. Because the creator herself loves her own work, I had it made to be displayed. I can’t stop wondering if she is happy living with me.
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先日私の旧友のためにこれを書いた後、母が書いたものです。本人が気に入っているので表装してもらいました。母は私といて幸せなのかな、と考えてしまいます。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
“Denseness” The most suitable word describing the days of my mother and myself, after all.
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濃密な日々な訳です。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Mother in her childhood again/
Is laughing and clapping to the/
Sunshine reflected by the/
Sun catchers/
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
幼子に還った母がはしゃいでる/
サンキャッチャーが弾く太陽（ひかり）よ/
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
When my mother in a wheel chair and I are taking a walk, swings in a children’s playground attract my attention. I felt sorry for my mother in a wheel chair, but once when no children were there, I enjoyed playing on one. My mother was innocently laughing just like she, herself was enjoying the swing.
Just looking at the swing/
As I am in a/
Wheel chair/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
車椅子の母と散歩していると、児童公園のブランコが目につきます。当然母は乗れないのでちょっと可哀想ですが、子供が一人もいないときにブランコに乗りました。母は自分がブランコを漕いでいるかのように嬉しそうに見ていました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
It is so fortunate for both my mother and me, my good old friends and cousins come to our place to meet and talk with my mother from time to time.
We often have beer on such occasions.
Beer in kanji characters/
Tastes different from/
Beer in katakana characters/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
ありがたいことに、この頃、私の旧友やいとこたちが母の見舞いによく来てくれます。それでよくビールを飲みます。
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Because my mother recently has a liking for smooth food, I often use agar in cooking both side dishes and desserts.
I asked for/
Some jellies of the wind/
Of early summer/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
このところ、母が口当たりのいいものを好むようになりましたので、おかずもおやつも寒天でつるっと。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Today falls on July 7 according to the old lunar calendar, which marks the star festival. I wrote my own haiku again.
On the night of tanabata festival/
Both mother and daughter (me)/
Are in the space/
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今日は旧暦の７月７日です。先日書いた自作の俳句をもう一度書きました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
On my mother’ 88th birthday the other day, one of her good old friends visited us with potted flowers as presents.
I wrote the flowers’ language, “many little heartwarming memories”, which I though best described the terms between my mother and her friend.
My mother always has have incredibly good memories, and my own good memory is, of course, my best inheritance from her. I am more than happy to posses it, as many good memories aren’t heavy nor bulky.
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先日の母の８８回目の誕生日に、母の旧くからのお友達が、鉢植えの花をプレゼントにと家に来てくださいました。
母とこの方との間柄をよく表している花言葉を書きました。
記憶力のいい母にぴったりだと思いますし、私の記憶力の良さも母譲りですが、記憶力が良くて良かったと思います。たくさんの小さな思い出は重くもなければ嵩張りもしないから。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Just as the last time, I tried to create a work of my own haiku. I will write it on a bigger, longer piece of paper shortly.
On the night of tanabata festival/
Both mother and daughter (me)/
Are in the space/
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
先日に引き続き、自作の俳句を書こうと思いました。これは近いうちに半切に書きます。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
My mother turned 88 years old yesterday. Wishing her longevity and in commemoration and for a happy memory for both of us, we went to see lotus flowers at the Kyoto Botanical Garden.
After that, in the afternoon, I asked her to write the letter for lotus, and I added a phrase from an ancient Chinese poem, describing women picking lotus flowers.
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植物園に蓮の花を見に行きました。母の米寿の祝いの記念になるかな、ということで。
そして午後には、母に「蓮」を書いてもらい、蓮の花を摘む乙女たちを詠った漢詩の一節を書き加えました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
My mother turned 88 years old today. One of my precious friends sent us a premium Japanese saké to celebrate both my mother’s 88th birthday and my 61st birthday just one month ago.
My mother hadn’t had any alcoholic drinks for years, but this time, she was happy enough to taste a little bit of this saké appreciating the sender’s kind heart.
Now, you can easily see that my fondness for Japanese saké is very well known among my friends and acquaintances, one example being the past entry.
Clear chilled saké /
Hint of rosy early evening sky/
Reflected on the glass/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
今日は、母が米寿を迎えました。
大事な友人が、母の米寿と、ちょうどひと月前の私の６１歳の誕生日祝いにと、上等の清酒を贈ってくださいました。
母はもうずいぶんと長い間お酒をいただくことなどなかったのですが、今回はお気遣いに感謝してほんの少々いただきました。
それにしても、先月の私の誕生日のお祝いといい、今回のお気遣いといい、私のお酒好きはずいぶんと知られているのです。
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Again, just like the other day, my mother wrote these for her old friend and my old friend.
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
またまた先日に引き続き、母の旧友と私の旧友のために母が書きました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
The photos show both sides of an uchiwa fan. I wrote my own haiku on the back side, which was my first attempt. At first I wanted to write a haiku written and exhibited by an entertainment personality who belongs to Johnny & Associates, Inc, however, my teacher told me to write my own.
On the night of tanabata festival/
Both mother and daughter (me)/
Are in the space/
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写真は団扇の裏表です。裏の俳句は初めての自作挑戦です。初め、ジャニーズ事務所のタレントがTVで披露していた俳句を書いたのですが、先生が「自分の句にしなさい」とおっしゃいましたので。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
My mother wrote these just like the other day for my cousins and my good old friend who are visiting us soon. I hope these will please my cousins and friend.
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
先日に引き続いて、近いうちに遊びに来てくれるいとこたちや私の旧友のために書きました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
The photo shows a two-parter collaboration by my mother and myself, which decorates our entry.
The idea of creating a diptych came afterwards, though.
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母との合作を二篇。玄関に飾っています。
初めから二部作にしようと思っていたのではないのですが。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
I took this photo along the Takano River (in Japanese) near our home where my mother in a wheel chair and myself often go for a walk, wondering what the bird was doing poking its head into the small waterfall.
I asked my friend who came to celebrate my birthday the other day showing the picture and she told me it was trying to catch small fish.
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車椅子の母とよく散歩に行く家の近くの高野川で見つけました。鳥がいることは全く珍しくないのですが、小さな滝に頭を突っ込んで何をしているのだろうと思って写しました。
先日誕生日祝いに来てくれた友人に聞くと、「餌（魚）を捕っているところ」だそうです。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
I love hydrangeas.
I recall the hydrangea in our garden originally came from the garden of my mother’s longtime good friend who is already gone.
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
確か、この庭の紫陽花は、母の昔の親友（故人）のお庭からやってきたものでした・・・。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
The photo shows uchiwa fans with my mother’s calligraphy on them for her best friend. I am certain her longtime friend will be very glad to receive them.
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
母が昔からの仲良しさんのために書きました。喜んでくださると思います。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Today is my birthday. I think my mother’s calligraphy is the best birthday gift for me. For, her works are all very good because they show well how properly she looks at my samples and how skillfully she imitates them.
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
母にはどんどん書いてもらっています。ちゃんと見て、ちゃんと書けているところが、私への誕生日プレゼントだと思います。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Days spent regarding each other as treasure.
The word meaning treasure （明珠）is by my mother.
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
互いに互いを寶と想う日々よ。
「明珠（寶もの）」は母が書きました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Mother has grown weak and now it seems to be more and more difficult for her to eat tough food. This is an example of a lunch plate in August last year she enjoyed.
Vernal equinoctial week/
Linked sausages/
Reading lunch menu/
By the light of/
Wisteria blossoms/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
母はやはりかなり弱ってきていて、堅いものが食べにくいです。昨年の夏はこんなものでも大丈夫だったのですが。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
I read somewhere that it is good for you to start something new for taking this opportunity. However, no good ideas came into my mind. I only thought about growing more flowers in our garden to please my mother.
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
何か新しいことを始めるといいらしいですが、名案が浮かびません。母を喜ばせるために、庭に草花を増やそうかと思うだけです。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Mother came back from the day care facility with manicured nails, which she has hated all her life. I think I must conclude, to my greatest disappointment, that she is turning into another personality.
Manicured nails of/
Fingers of a magician/
Color of spring/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
デイサービスで、マニキュアをしてもらって帰ってきました。そんなこと、大嫌いだった母が。やはり、母が母でなくなっているのだな、と思いました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
A very old acquaintance in my neighborhood, actually, who is like my elder sister all my life gave us some roses from their garden. My mother enjoyed seeing them floating in the water.
The photo shows my work of a passage from lyrics of an old pop song with a motif of wild roses
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
まるで姉のようなご近所の古くからの知り合いの方がお庭から薔薇を剪ってくださいました。水に浮かべると綺麗なので母が喜んでいました。
野バラを詠った昔のヒット曲を書きました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
So far, I have posted a number of entries about taking a walk with my mother in a wheel chair. The spring sky was so beautiful I even felt as if purified.
Two pieces of cloud come/
One goes away/
Oh, the sky in spring/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
これまでにも何度か車椅子の母との散歩のことを書きましたが、春の空が本当に美しくて、心が洗われるような気分にさえなりました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
When I was younger, I have never thought I would cook “rice with green peas”. It is not that I want to write same kind of comment when I post about washoku menu on our table, though.
Happiness is/
Noticing how happy one be/
Oh, the rice cooked with green peas/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
まさか自分が豆ご飯を炊くとは思いませんでした。
「純」和食というメニューのことを書くたびに同じことを繰り返していますが。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Yesterday my mother came back from her day care facility with some origami she made there. We set them in our corporative work featuring a poem from ancient China including the phrase “gold fish” I found on the internet.
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
昨日母がデイサービスから折り紙作品を持って帰りましたので、合同で一つの作品にしました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
In our garden, primrose flowers and gerbera flowers are in bloom side by side. The latter are originally from the garden of my mother’s deceased best friend, and the former were my late grandfather’s favorite flowers. My mother is spending a leisurely time recalling these two important people while enjoying seeing the flowers.
Gerbera petals/
Mix up/
To scarlet/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
庭にプリムラとガーベラが隣り合って咲いています。
プリムラは祖父が好きだった花で、ガーベラは母の今は亡き親友のお家から来たものです。母はしみじみとこの二人のことを懐かしがっています。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
My mother in a wheel chair and I enjoyed cherry blossoms here and there more often than usual. The flowers along this outlet looked gorgeous with the young leaves of maples. Both colors, pink and grass green, contrast favorably.
Young maple leaves/
So lithely put on/
Breeze/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
車椅子の母と一緒に、あちらこちらの桜をいつもの年よりもたくさん見ました。この疎水べりの桜は、もみじの若葉とともにあって、とても綺麗でした。ピンクも若草色もどちらも映えます。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
In order to accommodate my mother’s taste, these days I often cook traditional kind of simmered dishes. I never imagined myself cooking like this when I was young.
Smell of sweet coltsfoots/
On the tips of my fingers/
Lingers something/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
母が喜ぶので煮物をよく作ります。まさかこういう料理を作る日が来るとは思っていませんでしたが。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Although I never intend to put in a good word about it (in fact, the store worker had a terrible attitude), my mother and I happened to buy sandwiches at a nearby shop of a famous coffeehouse chain and had them on the river bank of the Takano River (in Japanese) enjoying the cherry blossoms which were only early stage of blooming then.
Taking a walk
With one flower petal/
As a gift/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
別に宣伝したい訳ではありませんが（実際、店員の態度が悪かったし）、近くにある有名なコーヒーのチェーン店でサンドイッチを買って、高野川べりで母とお花見をしながらいただきました。そのときには、まだせいぜい三分咲きでしたが。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
According to the expectation by many people that the cherry blossoms this year are at their best today, my mother and I went to enjoy them to the river bank of the Takano River (in Japanese).
As my mother is most pleased with the place, we usually walk up and down the bank.
Overcast weather/
In the cherry blossom season/
Took the same way when returning/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
今日が多分満開だと思われますので、母と高野川べりに桜を見に行きました。
母がその道を喜ぶので、同じところを行ったり来たり。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Practicing all day was such a gratifying occasion for me.
I am profoundly thankful to my mother who agreed to stay at the nursing-care institution for a couple of nights.
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
一日中お稽古出来たのが何より嬉しかったです。
二晩のショートステイに行ってくれた母に心から感謝しています。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
I often hear one goes back to their childhood as growing in age.
Mother is making merry/
In her re-gained/
Childhood/
Oh, sunlight/
Flipped by suncatchers/
__ Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
年を取ると子供に還る、とはよく聞きますが。
幼子に
還った母が
はしゃいでる
サンキャッチャーが
弾く
太陽（ひかり）よ
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Actually, I kept wondering how my mother has been spending time at the day-care facility and at last, I found out she completed knitting a scarf for the raccoon dog figure of Shigaraki ware at the entrance.
Has acquired a little bit of boldness/
Since beginning to wear a/
Red scarf/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
実際のところ、母はデイサービスにお邪魔して何をしているのだろうと思っていたら、玄関先の信楽焼のたぬきのマフラーを編んでいたそうです。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
I bought a couple of Japanese sweets for my mother and myself named “rabbit”.
The snow rabbit made by my old mother who has become quite clumsy doesn’t pale so much.
O, month of February/
Beautiful is/
Japanese confectionery/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
母と二人でいただくのに「うさぎ」の名を持つ和菓子を買ってきました。
年を取って不器用になった母の作った雪うさぎもそんなに見劣りしません。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Following is a quotation from an e-mail message from a social worker I really trust.
“How people come into the world, struggle to live, grow old and pass away is not something smooth.
That is exactly the reason I would never want to miss the short-lived glow.”
＜To the homepage of this website.＞
信頼しているソーシャルワーカーさんからのメールの一節を書きました。
「人が生まれて生きて老いていなくなっていく様は綺麗に流れるものではない
だからこその一瞬の輝きを見逃さないでいたい」
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
