It was 34 years ago, in 1970, that the Meiji Era-born Japanese-American Kisaburo Konoshima (1893-1984) published "Hudson" (Tokyo, 1970), a selection of Japanese language tanka poetry. "Hudson," which was published as part of Konoshima's kiju celebration (a traditional celebration of longevity in concurrence with an individual's 77th birthday), was Konoshima's first and only published work. For the past six years, Konoshima's grandson, David Kei Callner, has been diligently translating Konoshima's tanka poetry into English. The intergenerational bonds within the Konoshima family are what have made the present English language publication of "Hudson" possible.
Konoshima's tanka poetry, which simultaneously reveals the nostalgia and homesickness for his homeland while focusing on the bonds of family, is his autobiography as a Japanese-American.
In 1950, Konoshima joined the Kamakura based Cho-on poetry society and began sending them his Japanese language tanka verses from the United States. The 699 tankas that make up "Hudson," taken from 1951-1970, describe Konoshima's experiences of farming in California, the intergenerational differences in opinion and ideas between him and his American-born children, the love for his wife, the sense of loss he faced after the premature, accident-related death of his beloved grandchildren, and the common feelings shared by many Japanese who live as immigrants in a foreign country. The use of condensed verselets is uniquely fitting for expressing Konoshima's emotions in their purest form.