Japanese Poem in Two Translations

 

 “Yo no naka wo

Nani ni tatoemu

Asaborake

Kogiyuku fune no

Ato no shiranami!”

by the priest Mansei (ca 720/730), also called Kasamaro

It's puzzling how two translations of a Japanese poem can differ so greatly:

1.

“If pressed to compare

this brief life, I might declare:

It’s like the boat

that crossed this morning’s harbour,

leaving no mark on the world”

(tr. Sam Hamill)

 2.

“To what shall I compare

This world?

To the white wake behind

A ship that has rowed away

At dawn!”

(tr. Arthur Waley).

I wonder which is closer to the original?

On Japan:

“Trees possess souls. An old tree is almost as greatly revered as an old grandmother.

The Japanese think it a sin or a crime to cut down an old tree”.

The Living Past, Ivar Lissner. Penguin edition, 1965.