The 7th Hoshi-to-Mori International Tanka Contest, Comments on the Japanese Field. 　"Clothes" is , food and shelter alike, indispensable to man's life, and it familiar to us in our everyday life. So, I was expecting to have more tankas applied this time, but unexpectedly it has resulted in that we have nearly the same number as that of the last year. Also , as for the content, due to apparently choosy to reading "koromo（robes）" and "kinu（silk）", there were rather old fashioned tanka singing "change of robes", "angel's wing robes", etc, or ones singing old and fairy tales. There tanka stayed within the scope of light impromptu, and were not worthy to be selected. I wanted these contributors to compose tanka on such subject matters or motifs as everyday wears and clothes based upon the feelings of living. 　Among the contributed, one tanka sings about the shortage of daily necessities during and after the war when a mother unraveled her clothes to make a wear for her newly born baby, and others are about a seriouly sick woman or a very old woman who are to give their kimonos, which they might not put on any more, to their relatives as the keepsakes. These were felt sad and touched. However, as we sang them aloud, the impressions surprisingly became weak and thiner. Regrettably, it is considered that the tunes of the words and the sounds of the voices were not enough to be accompanied with the contents. 　As for the formal dress for ceremonial occasions, the contributors should have gotten good motifs on it, but there were less than what I had expected. Of them, a few tanka sang wedding dresses, which still were too influential to be easily given up. As a result of selecting tanka and the discussions thereof with the persons concerned for three times in all, the two tanka were selected as the prize winning ones this time, which have been recited ahead of the comments. Supplementary Prize goes to Ms. Eriko Yamamoto from Tokushima Prefecture. Furusato-no no-ni Sendan no Taijyu ari Kaze-no koromo-o matohite orinu （the gist : There is a big tree of Sendan in the field of my home. It wore a robe of the wind.）　Note : "Sendan" ー Japanese Bead Tree. 　This tanka sings the existence feeling of the big tree of Sendan broad-mindedly. The tree of Sendan itself is fragrant, I wonder. The atmosphere and appearance produced by the whole of the trunk, hundreds, thousands of branches, the treetop and the thickness of countless leaves of that big tree is sung as "wore a robe of the wind." This poet is not commonly talented. It can also be said well expressed. 　But, the following is a little exception : In the first three lines, the poet definitely sings "There is a big tree" with the present tense, yet in the last two lines she changes the tense as "it wore a robe of the wind." into the past form. Why? There might have been some reasons to her, but this change causes the tanka failure and weaken its strength, which I cannot deny. It is a pity! The Grand Prize goes to Ms. Yasuko Matsuura from Yamaguchi Prefecture. Kon osoki jiro-no syatsu-no sawasawa to hi-ni kawakeru-o mune-ni atsumuru （the gist : The shirts of Jiro who is still single, have been dry rustling in the sunshine,and are gathered to my bosom.） 　The wash of Jiro who has not married yet even at his fairly matured age, is being taken in by his mother. The shirts become dry rustling in the sunshine. His mother is gathering them to her bosom. It looks like visible and is a description to be easily understandable. But, we cannot understand the inside of her bosom. Surely, there must be various things inside of her, but she never says a word. This is the good point of this tanka, which tells us her gentleness. She is bright and clean. The tunes and the sounds of the tanka are refreshing. 　To tell the truth, this tanka was not placed high at the third stage of the selection. But in order to compare it with other selected ones, we recited it aloud over and over again. While we were trying, the strength of this tanka gradually manifested itself to get selected as the Grand Prize. I have fully realized again through this tanka that whether or not a tanka has strength to move people's heart could be tested only by beign sung aloud, and then would become clear. ー Concludedー 24 July in the 17th year of Heisei (2005) Hojo Nakajima Judge, the Japanese Field, the 7th Hoshi-to-Mori International Tanka Contest Go to the award of the 7th contest Go to the top Copyright(C)2001 Hoshi-to-Mori, All Rights Reserved.