This thesis is a translation and analysis of select tanka from the tanka anthology, Ai wo utae (Sing Love), by Suzukake Shin, an openly gay Japanese contemporary tanka poet. Published by Seidosha in 2019, the anthology contains twenty-eight rensaku (sequences) with a total of 295 individual tanka. In this thesis, I have translated six of the twenty-eight rensaku for a total of sixty-three individual tanka. Tanka are a thirty-one syllable Japanese poem that has its roots in the Heian Period (794-1185). Before presenting my English translations of Suzukake’s tanka, I give a critical introduction that consists of three main sections: Background, Analysis by Theme, and Translation Commentary. In the background section I discuss Suzukake's biography and give a brief history of tanka to lay out the genre and place Suzukake in it. Next, in the analysis section I identify and discuss three major themes representative of Suzukake’s essence as a poet through detailed analysis of select tanka which exemplify the themes. The three major themes are: The Natural: Nature & the Body, The Everyday: Objects & Experiences, and The Technological: Technology & a Modern World. Finally, in the last section I discuss my overall approach to tanka translation in addition to major theories drawn from the translation studies field which have informed my translation process. I have also included an afterword which discusses why I believe gayness does not take on a theme of itself in Suzukake’s tanka.

in English The main topic of this thesis is the co-called Five Mountains literature (Gozan bungaku), a collection of literary works by Japanese medieval Zen monks written in literary Chinese. This dissertation thesis focuses predominantly on the development of themes and stylistic characteristics of poetry by Gido Shushin and Zekkai Chushin. The focus lays on the stylistic and thematic differences between the works of the aforementioned poets, on the ongoing secularization of the poetic production of the Zen monks and on the influence they exerted over the later generations. Their literary contacts with the poets writing in Japanese will also be discussed.

In 1923, the poet Kitahara Hakushū wrote an essay entitled “Dōyō shikan” 童謡私観 or “Philosophy of Dōyō.” In it, he described a perspective on children that valued their innately creative potential. Hakushū felt that this potential was something that every child had and that could be enriched and drawn out through dōyō 童謡 (children's songs.) Hakushū’s views in this sense challenged the prevailing attitudes in the Taishō period toward children and toward the function that children’s songs and poetry should serve. Despite Hakushū’s prominence as a poet, the “Dōyō shikan” has never been translated or closely analyzed in English. The analysis of the “Dōyō shikan” provides a lens through which to view Hakushū’s poetry for children. The principles that Hakushū described in this essay for writing dōyō can be seen both in Hakushū’s own work and the work of children who submitted poetry to Akai tori, a literary magazine for which Hakushū managed poetry. Those principles stressed the need for the poet to replicate the child’s voice, mind, and imagination for the purpose of writing dōyō that were creative, artistic, and meaningful to children.

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