Haha no ki no kareteno nochi no himekomatsu ukiyo no kaze wo nani ni fusegamu
After the mother tree
has withered and died away,
what is there now to protect
the seedling princess pine
from the winds of this sad, uncertain world?
Read more of Kane Maida’s poetry:
A Message From the Heart: Six Tanforan Poems
My Body Is Not My Body: Four Tanforan Poems
Memories of My Homeland: Seven Topaz Poems
About the contributor: Kane Maida (1898-1961) was born in Wakayama Prefecture in 1898. Kane’s father Kumakichi and brother Eichi started the Maida Nursery on Wall Ave. in Richmond, California in the early 1900s. Kane and her mother, Matsue, joined them around 1904. Kane married Torayoshi Muraki (who took the Maida name) in 1918, and they had three daughters. When the War began, the family was running three nurseries in Richmond. The entire family was transferred to Tanforan in May of 1942. They were then incarcerated at Topaz from September 1942 to July 1945. When they returned to Richmond after the War, the house and nurseries were in terrible condition, so everything had to be rebuilt. Kane passed away in 1961. Throughout the period of incarceration, Kane wrote poetry, all written in an ancient poetic Japanese form called tanka. We are honored that Ken Tokuno, Kane’s grandson, shared her poetry with us.
© 2025, Kenneth Tokuno. All rights reserved.
Transcriptions and translations by Robert Huey PhD, Professor Emeritus, East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of Hawai`i at Manoa