Year-end Presentations of Waka Poems

Year-end Presentation of Five Waka Poems by His Majesty the Emperor

Iwojima

The valiant men who
Fought with all their heart and soul,
Here, unto this day,
Lie at rest below the ground
And the isle is sorrowful.

Iwojima

On this isle that once
Was burned bare by battle-fires,
All these fifty years
Ownerless, the castor plants
Have gone on growing lushly.

Worshipping at the Toyouke Grand Shrine

Treading white pebbles
As I make my way forward,
There in front I see -
All resplendent in the light -
The New Shrine stand before me.

Majorca Island

As we were riding
With the King and Queen of Spain
In a horse-carriage,
People waved their hands to us,
Leaning from upper windows.

Looking back over the past year

While I may rejoice
At this year's rich fruitfulness,
Still it is painful
To recall the hot days when
There was not enough water.

Year-end Presentation of Three Waka Poems by Her Majesty the Empress

• Water now fills, so calmly,
  The stone basin to the brim
  At this memorial site,
  How you, who died in the war,
  Must have thirsted for water then.
• (at Iwojima the island of rocks, where 27,000 persons, both Japanese and American,died in the Second World War.)

• In a town, rapidly aging,
  Where school children are scarce,
  Those few all, turned out
  To take part in the ceremony,
  Playing pipes and drums joyfully.
• (Tree-Planting Ceremony,"Muraoka"Hyogo Prefecture)

• Ah, could I visit
  This small village once again
  When the fields are purple
  With scallion flowers
  In full bloom.
• (Fukube Village, Tottori Prefecture)