Palms and Fingers: to Seimei Tsuji’s bowl

​

Put my hands together,

closed, it is a prayer

opened, it is a bowl

In this small hollow

filled with water

filled with my thoughts

Hiding in the darkness of earth

clear water

a form which is waiting for someone

Holding them up to the light,

the delight of

my palms and fingers

The hollow of a bowl

fulfilled by fruits of earth,

water and fire

something hopping

something fragrant

something overflowing

Even after dying they are in harmony

life and life,

its brightness

Born in the earth

purified by water

forged by fire

Bowls are

new earth

holding life in both hands

​

-Shuntaro Tanikawa

Translated by Yuko Weiner