酒は誰でも酔はす
だがどんな傑れた詩も
字の読めない人は酔はさない
――だからといつて
酒が詩の上だなんて考へる奴あ
「生活第一芸術第二」なんて言つてろい
自然がカンヴァスの上でも美しいといふことかい――
そりや経験を否定したら
インタレスチングな詩は出来まいがね
――だが
「それを以てそれを現すべからず」つて言葉を覚えとけえ
文学が関係ばかりを考へ過ぎる
文士よ
せち辛い世の中をみるが好いが
その中に這入つちや不可ない
Literal Translation
Liquor intoxicates anyone.
But no matter how excellent a poem is,
It cannot intoxicate those who cannot read.
Even so,
Anyone thinking liquor is above poetry
Can just keep saying, “Life first, art second!”
Does the fact that nature is beautiful
mean that nature is beautiful on a canvas too?
Well, if you deny experience,
an interesting poem cannot be written.
But remember the words:
“Do not express a thing through itself.”
Science thinks only about the individual,
And literature thinks too much about relationships.
Men of letters!
Look at the harsh world, if you like,
But do not enter into it.
Poetic Translation
Liquor can make anyone drunk.
But no matter how great a poem is,
it won’t intoxicate those who cannot read.
And that said—
any fool who takes that to mean
liquor outranks poetry
can go on chanting, “Life first, art second,”
for all I care.
Nature is beautiful—
sure.
But does that mean
it stays beautiful once laid on a canvas?
Of course, deny lived experience,
and you’ll never write a poem worth reading.
But still—
remember this:
never use a thing
to express the thing itself.
Science clings to fragments,
while literature drowns in relations.My fellow writers—
look at this harsh world if you must,
but don’t you dare
lose yourself inside it.
Translation ©Tsukiyonokarasu, 2026
Original poem by Nakahara Chuya (Public Domain)
I’ve approached each poem with care and time—reading, translating, listening, and creating—always as a quiet collaboration with the poet.
These works reflect not just the poem itself, but also the moments of silence, discovery, and emotion that arose between us.
You’re invited into that space—not to copy, but to feel.
Echoes from Chūya’s Ink
-
“Never use a thing to express the thing itself.” Experience Chuya Nakahara’s biting poetic philosophy through original music and dual English translations. A deep dive into the mind of a poet who chose the intoxication of art over the mundane world. Unfold the Rest
-
This page weaves together Chuya Nakahara’s Japanese translation of Rimbaud’s Sensation, my own English interpretation based on Nakahara’s text, and fragments of the original French poem. By blending these voices, the song becomes a layered conversation across time and language—an homage to the resonance between two poetic souls. Unfold the Rest
-
Nakahara Chuya’s poem Rinju (“At Deathbed”) is translated into English and reimagined through music. It depicts the quiet passage of a soul fading into the sky, a gentle elegy for what has been lost. The original poem, its translation, the translator’s notes, and the accompanying music and video together form a single, unified world. Unfold the Rest
