Ame ni mo Makezu

Ame ni mo makezu (Be not Defeated by the Rain^[1]) is a famous poem written by Kenji Miyazawa,^[2] a poet from the northern prefecture of Iwate in Japan who lived from 1896 to 1933. The poem was found posthumously in a small black notebook in one of the poet's trunks.

The poem

The text of the poem is given below in Japanese, as a transliteration using romaji, and in translation. While this version includes some kanji, the poem was originally written in Katakana (see style).

Original	Modern orthography	Transliteration	English Translation
雨ニモマケズ 風ニモマケズ 雪ニモ夏ノ暑サニモマケヌ 丈夫ナカラダヲモチ 慾ハナク 決シテ瞋ラズ イツモシヅカニワラッテヰル 一日ニ玄米四合ト 味噌ト少シノ野菜ヲタベ アラユルコトヲ ジブンヲカンジョウニ入レズニ ヨクミキキシワカリ ソシテワスレズ 野原ノ松ノ林ノ蔭ノ 小サナ萓ブキノ小屋ニヰテ 東ニ病氣ノコドモアレバ 行ッテ看病シテヤリ 西ニツカレタ母アレバ 行ッテソノ稻ノ朿ヲ負ヒ 南ニ死ニサウナ人アレバ 行ッテコハガラナクテモイヽトイヒ 北ニケンクヮヤソショウガアレバ ツマラナイカラヤメロトイヒ ヒドリノトキハナミダヲナガシ サムサノナツハオロオロアルキ ミンナニデクノボートヨバレ ホメラレモセズ クニモサレズ サウイフモノニ ワタシハナリタイ	雨にもまけず 風にもまけず 雪にも夏の暑さにもまけぬ 丈夫なからだをもち 慾はなく 決して瞋らず いつもしずかにわらっている 一日に玄米四合と 味噌と少しの野菜をたべ あらゆることを じぶんをかんじょうにいれずに よくみききしわかり そしてわすれず 野原の松の林の蔭の 小さな萱ぶきの小屋にいて 東に病気のこどもあれば 行って看病してやり 西につかれた母あれば 行ってその稲の束を負い 南に死にそうな人あれば 行ってこわがらなくてもいいといい 北にけんかやそしょうがあれば つまらないからやめろといい ひでりのときはなみだをながし さむさのなつはおろおろあるき みんなにでくのぼうとよばれ ほめられもせず くにもされず そういうものに わたしはなりたい	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 no yasai wo tabe arayuru koto wo jibun wo kanjō 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 wo 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 yobare homerare mo sezu ku ni mo sarezu sō iu mono ni watashi wa naritai	not losing to the rain not losing to the wind not losing to the snow nor to summer's heat with a strong body not fettered by desire by no means offending anyone always quietly smiling every day four bowls of brown rice miso and some vegetables to eat in everything count yourself last and put others before you watching and listening, and understanding and never forgetting in the shade of the woods of the pines of the fields being in a little thatched hut if there is a sick child to the east going and nursing over them if there is a tired mother to the west going and shouldering her sheaf of rice if there is someone near death to the south going and saying there's no need to be afraid if there is a quarrel or a lawsuit to the north telling them to leave off with such waste when there's drought, shedding tears of sympathy when the summer's cold, wandering upset called a nobody by everyone without being praised without being blamed such a person I want to become

Style

Miyazawa chose to write the poem using katakana. This could seem to be stylistically odd from a modern perspective, as katakana is nowadays (usually) only used in Japanese writing to denote foreign words. However, at the time, katakana rather than hiragana was the preferred syllabary. The limited use of kanji might be viewed as a move to make his poem more accessible to the rural folk of northern Japan with whom he spent his life, or perhaps as similar to American poet E. E. Cummings's style in using primarily lower case.

Notes

• It is important to note that cold summers in Japan mean a poorer harvest, hence the line "when the summer is cold, wandering upset."

• The transliteration above is not direct, and uses a modern romaji rendering. Miyazawa wrote in the orthography common to his time, where コハガラナクテ (kohagaranakute) would today be rendered as コワガラナクテ (kowagaranakute), イヒ (ihi) as イイ (ii), and サウ (sau) as ソウ (sou).
• "hidori" in "hidori no toki ha namida wo nagashi" is generally taken as a simple typo, as Miyazawa made similar typos in his other works. But since hidori means the daily wages of day laborers in the dialect of Hanamaki, some people believe the true meaning of this verse is that Miyazawa cries out of sympathy with the poor farmers who have to work as day laborers.^[3]

See also

• Buddhist poetry

References

1. "Silenced by gaman". The Economist. April 20, 2011. Archived from the original on 22 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-23. The best-known poem by the region’s most beloved poet, Kenji Miyazawa (born in 1896), starts “Be not defeated by the rain”. It extols the virtues of enduring harsh conditions with good grace.
2. "Can poetry in translation ever be as poetic in its new language?". The Japanese Times Online. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
3. 宮沢賢治学会イーハトーブセンター (in Japanese). Retrieved 2010-06-15.

External links

• Be not Defeated by the Rain, a translation by David Sulz
• Unperturbed by the Rain, a translation by Steven P. Venti
• Standing Up to the Rain, a translation from Ogura, Toyofumi (1948). Letters from the End of the World. Kodansha International Ltd. ISBN 4-7700-2776-1. OCLC 22226393.
• Someone who is unfazed by the rain, a translation by Michael Brase