Ikeda Sensei composed poems throughout his life in diverse styles, expressing his thoughts, examining Buddhist concepts and encouraging readers across the world. In July 1981, he was named a poet laureate by the World Academy of Arts and Culture. This section of Living Buddhism highlights select poems from Journey of Life: Selected Poems of Daisaku Ikeda, a collection of his poetry about the beauty and struggles of life.
Blossoms that scatter
Written in April 1945, shortly before Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II, when the author was 17. This translation, by Burton Watson, first appeared in Songs from My Heart (1978).
Cherries in bloom that the air raid spared
blue sky above them fallen petals jumbled
for a background the gutted ruins of reality
and the pitiful people who cannot look up to them
bitter are their long wanderings
the road of parent and child
amid the waves of little shacks, flowers in bloom
cherry blossoms—is theirs the hue of dawn?
Ah, there is a simile in this existence
men of power and men of peace
“blossoms that scatter, blossoms that remain to become blossoms that scatter”—so sings a man
blossoms of youth, how many million—
why must they scatter? why must they scatter?
In distant southern seas, ill-fated cherries
full bloom not yet on them, their branches are in pain
and my friends remaining, their hearts, before we know it,
wounded by the loss of the world of the ideal
Are all things impermanent? are they eternal?
without even knowing, must we scatter?
Blossoms that scatter, blossoms that remain,
bloom forever, in spring send out your fragrance on the storm!
Fuji and the poet
Written in 1947, when the author was 19.
There was a poet, a poet who sang
of this mountain’s unmatched harmony and splendor.
Forgive me, Fuji.
Tonight as I look up at you
I find myself weeping, without reason.
There was a poet who focused the light of his seasoned skill
on this ultimate of the Earth’s forms, and wept.
A day without wind.
In the dear and dreamlike emptiness of the sky,
a cloud is born to long after Fuji.
A poet who loved Fuji through the cycles of great art
that burned in the depths in his life.
Bokusui elevated himself to converse with Fuji
and solemnly sing its infinite melodies.
Fuji under clear skies.
Shining Fuji.
Snow-clad Fuji.
Towering Fuji.
Fuji’s crisp outline against the winter sky.
Fuji under rainclouds.
Rough-skinned Fuji.
White-robed Fuji.
Fuji at daybreak.
Cloud-capped Fuji.
Fuji in the bright light of dawn.
Fuji tonight.
Fuji under leaden skies.
Expansive Fuji.
Fuji in the white garb of spring.
Fuji exposed in autumn.
High in the skies he sings his praise
for this mountain of goodness, justice
and philosophy.
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