Autumn Diary

By Tamiki Hara

Tamiki Hara (1905-1951) is best known for his short story, "Summer Flowers" ("Natsu no Hana, 1947), a firsthand account of the horror of the Hiroshima atomic bombing. Now considered a key work in atomic bomb literature, much of his fame rests on this work. However, despite his own suffering and straitened circumstances, he has a substantial body of post-defeat writing. This story focusses on the days and weeks before his wife's death and, though the author's despair is palpable in each word, so too can the reader sense the depth of his love and affection for his wife, and hers for him.

This short story was translated by Max Macfarlane, Daisuke Okuda, and Xinwen Cao--students in the 2023 Japanese-English class (JPNS3013) run by Mark Gibeau at the ANU. Cover art by Max Macfarlane.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MG Literary Translation Workshop
• Release date: Nov 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215045183

Tamiki Hara

Tamiki Hara (1901-1951) was a Japanese poet and writer, primarily of short stories. He is most widely known for his 1947 story, "Summer Flowers" (Natsu no Hana), which is based on his first hand experience of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Strangely, the stories published here manage to present despair and hope as complementary themes. The protagonist of the stories lives in a world where things will most certainly not 'turn out ok'. Everything is stacked against him. A devastating war, the overwhelming horror of an atomic bombing, the slow, grinding starvation and disease in post defeat Japan. At the same time, however, bright lights still manage to shine through the oppressive gloom of his stories. Recollections of his wife, of his elder sister, of his youth--before the world went mad.Tamiki Hara's writings are an important reminder of the incalculable costs of war. In the lives that are needlessly destroyed, and in the destruction of all the potential those lives had to offer the world.

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Autumn Diary

By Tamiki Hara

Translated by: Max Macfarlane, Daisuke Okuda, and Xinwen Cao

Edited and with an introduction by Mark Gibeau

Translation Copyright 2023 reserved by Max Macfarlane, Daisuke Okuda, and Xinwen Cao. Introduction copyright reserved by Mark Gibeau

Cover art copyright 2023 Max Macfarlane

About this translation

The source text for this translation is Hara Tamiki’s Aki nikki as published on Aozora Bunko at https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000293/files/1848_20010.html.

The text was translated by Max Macfarlane, Daisuke Okuda, and Xinwen Cao in the JPNS3013, Japanese-English translation class run at the Australian National University in 2023 by Mark Gibeau.

Cover art by Max Macfarlane, copyright 2023.

Tamiki Hara photo from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Tamiki_Hara

Contents

About this translation

Introduction to Tamiki Hara

Autumn Diary

A Brief Introduction to Tamiki Hara

Twentieth century Japanese writers were not, overall, a very happy lot. Indeed, one would be forgiven for thinking it quite a dangerous profession given the high rates of suicide, the prevalence of illness, and widespread poverty. Of course, a bohemian lifestyle is never easy, but at a time when the world is in turmoil, it becomes substantially less so.

Tamiki Hara (1905 -1951) also died prematurely and by his own hand. Yet his is, I believe, a particularly tragic case. Though prone to what might’ve been termed ‘nervous tension’ throughout his life, he lived in a place and at a time of extreme brutality and deprivation. These experiences broke him so completely he never fully recovered. He is not, of course, unique in this. During the horrors of second world war