山に抱きしめられている街だと、
ふと気づく、（気づかされる、
朝の澄んだ空気のなか、
歴史の深呼吸をすると、
空気がこんなにも美味しくて、
旅で疲れた、身体が喜ぶ、
植え込みの木に張られた蜘蛛の巣も、
今朝の雨粒をいくつも、
坪庭のように抱えていて、
巣の裏から足音もなく出てきた、
凛々しい主人と目配せをする、
美福——Bifuku——という、
美しい名を持つ道と、
交差する押小路通を、
様々な国の観光客たちが、
城の、外堀に沿って歩いている、
（千本通の方を振り返れば、
（牛車が朱雀大路を行き交っている、
（唐車、檳榔毛車、青糸毛車、網代車、
（葵の葉——、
（遠く、糺の森の辺りに、微かに葵祭の気配がする、
（軋む音、九年半前の自分が橋の上で行列を見ている、
（牛車に飾られた、藤の花が揺蕩って、
（童歌のように消える、
下ろしたての、ニューバランスの靴を履いた、
呼吸の荒いランナーが、
幾層もの時の角にいる私の、
すぐ側を軽快に走り去ると、
ディキンソンの詩に出てきそうな、
一匹の気高い雀がこちらに気づいて、
ちいさな身体いっぱいに鳴く、
雀には雀の言葉があり、
空には空の言葉があり、
それをそのまま受け止めてみる、
（Jiratがにこやかに洗濯かごを持っている、
（Karinaたちと時代祭へ出かけて、皆で寒さに震える、
（Kimが夜、ドミトリーの前で誰かと電話をしている、
（会釈をし合う、（抹茶色の市バスが通り過ぎる、
（Muthitaがロビーでマンゴスチンのドライフルーツをくれる、
（斜向かいの部屋の、Francescoにはシェアラウンジで会う、
（手を挙げて挨拶をする、（小豆色の京都バスが通り過ぎる、
（コーヒーを片手に、ナッツとビスケットを両手に、
（Patrickと小話をする、何気ないような、
（二度と帰ってこないような、ハミング、
——あの時も、歩いていたよね、この川沿いを、
秋の予感に満ちた、お堀の水面を、
鴨の家族が四羽、五羽、と、
隊列を組んで進んでいく、
浮き草に、
一条の、
鴨たちの小路が造られたかと思えば、
緩やかに元通りになっていく、
山に抱かれて、
街は抱かれて、
私は抱かれて、
あなたに抱かれて、
今日、ここに暮らしている。
時の角で
花氷
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.
