14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
Haiku Classic: June 15, 2025 -- That which remains
hito-wa use piano-wa nokori genbakuki
--
people disappear
the piano remains
A-bomb day
--
Junya Mimura (1953- ). From "Takama" (The heavens), Saku Publishing Co. Ltd., Tokyo, 2024.
On the annual A-bomb Memorial Day -- the date when Hiroshima was hit with an atomic bomb at the end of World War II -- a piano recital has been held in front of Hiroshima's Atomic Bomb Dome since 2005. The piano is one that survived the bombing. Perhaps this is the piano that appears in the above haiku; perhaps it is another. In this scene, the people have all left the recital and only the piano remains, alone on the stage. Through the people no longer being there, we are reminded of the losses of people on that fateful day. The Japanese word "use" (pronounced ooh-seh) conveys a sense of loss as well as just an absence.
Pique your poetic interest with more Haiku in English here.
