I’ve become aware (am made aware
the city is embraced by the mountains
in the clear morning
I take a deep breath of history
how delicious the air is
it delights the body exhausted from a journey
even a spider’s web over the hedges
embraces countless raindrops from the morning shower
like pockets of tsuboniwa
from behind the web, quietly emerges
a statuesque houseowner, we exchange glances
Beauty, Bliss—Bifuku
that is the name of the alley
that crosses Oshikoji-Dori Street
where visitors from different lands
stroll along the outer moat of the castle
(turning toward Senbon-Dori Street
(gisshas stroll by on Suzaku-Oji Boulevard
(a kara-gable carriage, a palm-roofed carriage, a blue-thread-roofed carriage, a wickerwork carriage,
(hollyhock leaves of aoi—
(somewhere faraway, near Tadasu-no-Mori Forest, a reminiscence of Aoi Festival
(squeaks—nine and a half years ago, I was watching the parade on the bridge
(sways of the wisteria flowers drooping over the ox carriages
(vanishes like a nursery song
panting, a runner
in a pair of brand-new New Balance
zips past me
at the corner of Time’s strata
the moment an exalted Sparrow
out of a Dickinson poem notices me
and chirps its little body invigorated
the Sparrow has its own Language
the Sky has its own Language
I embrace their words the way they are
(Jirat is cradling a laundry basket, smiling
(Karina takes us to Jidai Festival and we all shiver together
(Kim in front of the dormitory at night is speaking on the phone
(we exchange glances (a matcha-colored City Bus passes by
(Muthita hands me a piece of dried mangosteen fruit in the lobby
(Francesco from the kitty-corner room, I run into him at the Share Lounge
(we hail at each other (an azuki-colored Kyoto Bus passes by
(with a mug of coffee in one hand, with nuts and biscuits in both hands,
(Patrick and I chat—small greetings like
(some humming that may never come back
—remember walking down this riverside that time?
on the moat’s surface reflecting the autumnal signs
a family of wild ducks—four, five of them
paddle by in a file through duckweeds
that separate, forming
a narrow line
the passage
gently disappears in the gathering weeds
embraced by the mountains
the city is embraced
I am embraced
embraced by you
life goes on here today
At Time’s Corner
Hanaka
translated from the Japanese by Kyoko Yoshida
Listen to the Japanese read by the author:
Hanaka is a young poet based in Tokyo, and his poetry is marked by a sensibility that captures passing moments in a particular time and space. His poems take us on strolls through the everyday landscape, and, by noting simple details, they commemorate humble existences and make ordinary moments lyrical.
“At Time’s Corner” was composed when the poet was away from home, as if it is a recollection of a long-stretched stroll. He was a Kyoto Writers Residency Fellow, along with five other writers and a translator, in October–November 2025. The poem was read at its Closing Event on November 16, both in Japanese and English. His fellow resident, Patrick Flanery, read the English translation. Other fellow writers are also mentioned in the poem.
Among the many festivals held in Kyoto throughout the year, two are costume parades: the Aoi Festival, hosted by the Kamigamo & Shimogamo Shrines in May, and the Jidai Festival, hosted by the Heian Shrine in October. The former features the aristocratic costumes and vehicles of the Heian Period (794–1185), and the latter depicts notable figures from the Meiji Restoration (1868–1889), moving backward in time to the Heian Period when the capital was founded in Kyoto. Ox carriages that appear in both festivals are aristocratic vehicles of the Heian Period. They were magnificently decorated, and their styles and builds were determined by the ranks of the passengers.
“At Time’s Corner” was composed when the poet was away from home, as if it is a recollection of a long-stretched stroll. He was a Kyoto Writers Residency Fellow, along with five other writers and a translator, in October–November 2025. The poem was read at its Closing Event on November 16, both in Japanese and English. His fellow resident, Patrick Flanery, read the English translation. Other fellow writers are also mentioned in the poem.
Among the many festivals held in Kyoto throughout the year, two are costume parades: the Aoi Festival, hosted by the Kamigamo & Shimogamo Shrines in May, and the Jidai Festival, hosted by the Heian Shrine in October. The former features the aristocratic costumes and vehicles of the Heian Period (794–1185), and the latter depicts notable figures from the Meiji Restoration (1868–1889), moving backward in time to the Heian Period when the capital was founded in Kyoto. Ox carriages that appear in both festivals are aristocratic vehicles of the Heian Period. They were magnificently decorated, and their styles and builds were determined by the ranks of the passengers.
Hanaka is a poet born in Tokyo, Japan. He earned a Master of Engineering from Shibaura Institute of Technology. He studied under the theater director Hideki Noda. In 2015, he participated as an actor in the play “Egg” directed by Hideki Noda (performed at the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris). After working as an actor, he began writing poetry around 2020. In 2024, he received the 62nd Gendaishi Techō Prize and published his first poetry collection,「オ・ラパン・アジルの夜」 (The Night at Au Lapin Agile; 思潮社、2024). He was a finalist for the 58th Oguma Hideo Prize and was selected as a Fellow for the fourth Kyoto Writers Residency in 2025, where he stayed in Kyoto for a month. “At Time’s Corner” was written and translated during the author’s stay in Kyoto.
Kyoko Yoshida writes fiction in English and essays in Japanese. She also translates contemporary Japanese poetry into English and American fiction into Japanese. She has contributed a few other pieces to Asymptote: a co-translation with Forrest Gander of poet Kiwao Nomura (“On Prose”) and another with Andy Bragen of playwright Shu Matsui (“Proud Son”). Spectacle & Pigsty: Selected Poems of Kiwao Nomura (Omnidawn, 2011), co-translated with Gander, won the 2012 Best Translated Book Award in Poetry. Her story collections include Disorientalism (Vagabond Press, 2014) and Spring Sleepers (Strangers Press, 2017). She is the founding director of Kyoto Writers Residency and teaches at Kyoto University.
