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Associated Press

Japan’s Imperial Household Agency has released five 31-syllable “waka” poems written by Emperor Akihito and three by Empress Michiko to celebrate New Year’s Day.
The subjects of this year’s poems, written during the course of their duties in 2015, range from the mundane to the poignant, with topics including war returnees, agriculture, and the domestically produced Mitsubishi Regional Jet aircraft, which made its maiden flight this year.
The composition and recitation of poetry represents part of Japanese New Year tradition.
*
Akihito’s poem on the National Arbor Day Festival:
With this hoe in hand
Made from the tree which grew from seeds
Sowed by my father
I now plant the seedling
Of the Japanese black pine.
*
Akihito’s poem on Japan’s National Sports Festival:
A huge man-made whale
Also appeared on the scene
Spouting with vigor
This mass performance opened
The National Sports Festival.
*
Akihito’s poem on the Convention for the Development of an Abundantly Productive Sea:
Flounder fry nurtured
Using the deep seawater
Of Toyama Bay
Together with the people
I release into the sea.
*
Akihito’s poem on the couple’s visits to areas settled by returnees from foreign lands after the end of World War II
How hard were the days
When they cleared and tilled the land
The people tell us
Their faces gentle and mild
As they now speak of those days.
*
Akihito’s poem on Niiname-sai, a ceremony in which new crops are offered to the deities:
This year again
From each and every prefecture
Come harvested grains
Glad and grateful I receive
The fruit of their labour.
*
Michiko’s poem on the restoration of the Ishinomaki train line hit by the 2011 quake and tsunami:
The spring breeze speeding
Alongside the train as well
This is the morning
The first train of the day
Leaves Onagawa station.
*
Michiko’s poem on the couple’s visit to Palau:
Could they be, I wonder,
The souls of the departed
Here in Palau
I watch the silver white terns
Gliding low over the sea.
*
Michiko’s poem on the Mitsubishi Regional Jet:
A passenger jet
Made at home by our people
Taking flight today
Into the clear autumn sky
Into the deep azure.


Planes, trains and the Abundantly Productive Sea: Read the diverse New Year poetry of Japan’s emperor and empress

Japanese Emperor Akihito (front, 3rd L) and Empress Michiko (front, 4th L) smile with their family members (front row, L-R) Crown Princess Masako, Crown Prince Naruhito, Prince Akishino, Prince Hisahito and Princess Kiko, (back L-R) Princess Aiko, Princess Mako and Princess Kako during a family photo session for the New Year at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, in this handout picture taken November 15, 2015 and released on January 1, 2016 by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan. REUTERS/Imperial Household Agency of Japan/Handout via Reuters ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS.

The Japanese imperial family in a portrait released on New Year’s Day. Clockwise from Emperor Akihito (front, 3rd left); Crown Prince Naruhito, his wife Crown Princess Masako, and their daughter Princess Aiko; Princess Mako and sister Princess Kako, their mother Princess Kiko, her son Prince Hisahito, and husband Prince Akishino; and Empress Michiko, wife of the emperor. Photo: Reuters

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