Sensation

— Chuya Nakahara’s translation of Rimbaud

Rimbaud burned through poetry like a comet — and Nakahara Chuya caught that flame in Japanese.

Where Nakahara chūya’s words become music.

私はゆかう、夏の靑き宵は
麥穂臑（（すね））刺す小徑の上に、小草（をぐさ）を蹈みに、
夢想家・私は私の足に、爽々（（すがすが））しさのつたふを覺え、
吹く風に思ふさま、私の頭をなぶらすだらう！
私は語りも、考へもしまい、だが
果てなき愛は心の裡（うち）に、浮びも來よう
私は往かう、遠く遠くボヘミヤンのやう
天地の間を、女と伴れだつやうに幸福に。

Literal Translation

I will go, on a blue summer dusk,
Along the path where the wheat prickles my shins, trampling the small grasses.
As a dreamer, I feel freshness on my feet,
And I will let the wind play with my head to its content!

I will neither speak nor think. But
Endless love will arise within my heart.
I will keep moving forward, far and farther, like a Bohemian,
Between sky and earth, happy as if walking with a woman.

Poetic Translation

Through the blue summer dusk, I wander.
As I tread on the tender grass, the wheat stalks brush and prickle against my shins along the narrow path.
In my dream-world I drift, wearing the hush of freshness around my feet.
I let the wind play with my hair until it has had its fill, simply moving forward.

I will speak no words, think no thoughts—
yet my heart will overflow with love.
I will keep moving forward, endlessly, like a wandering Bohemian,
drifting between sky and earth, with the quiet joy as if beside a beloved.

English translation ©Tsukiyonokarasu, 2025
Based on translated by Nakahara Chuya (Public Domain),
from the original poem by Arthur Rimbaud (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.

This English translation follows Chuya Nakahara’s Japanese rendering of Rimbaud’s poem.
Some phrases appear only in Nakahara’s version — reflections of how he perceived and transformed Rimbaud’s vision into his own language.

The poetic translation is my personal reading of Nakahara’s text, reimagined in English.
Though it may drift away from the original, I hope you will receive it kindly — as one way to listen to the quiet dialogue between the two poets.

🇫🇷French Original

Par les soirs bleus d’été j’irai dans les sentiers,
Picoté par les blés, fouler l’herbe menue:
Rêveur, j’en sentirai la fraîcheur à mes pieds,
Je laisserai le vent baigner ma tête nue
Je ne parlerai pas, je ne penserai rien.
Mais l’amour infini me montera dans l’âme;
Et j’irai loin, bien loin, comme un bohémien,
Par la Nature,—heureux comme avec une femme.

🇬🇧Reference English Translation

On blue summer evenings, I will walk along the paths,
Pricked by the wheat, trampling the fine grass:
Dreamy, I will feel its coolness on my feet.
I will let the wind bathe my bare head.
I will not speak, I will think of nothing.
But infinite love will rise in my soul;
And I will go far, far away, like a gypsy,
Through Nature—happy as with a woman.

Japanese is generally understood by following the order of words. Each kanji carries meaning on its own. Try to imagine the scenes of the poem using only the kanji characters.

Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891)

A prodigy of French poetry, Arthur Rimbaud burned brightly and briefly.
By his late teens, he had already transformed modern verse with dazzling imagery and visionary rebellion.
Restless and untamed, he sought freedom in both art and life, abandoning poetry before twenty to wander through Europe and Africa.
Rimbaud’s works—filled with hallucinatory beauty, sensual chaos, and prophetic intensity—remain a testament to youth’s furious dream of transcendence.

Chuya Nakahara (1907–1937)

Often called the “Japanese Rimbaud,” Chuya Nakahara infused modern Japanese poetry with rhythm, emotion, and musicality.
Drawing from Symbolism and personal sorrow, his poems sing of loneliness, fleeting beauty, and the ache of existence.
A master of internal music, he transformed pain into lyrical grace.
Though his life was short and turbulent, Nakahara’s voice endures—tender, defiant, and eternally young.

These works invite you to listen to his poetry—
not through reading, but through the rhythm, tone, and silence of sound.

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