Blue Cat - The Definitive Edition

A blue cat sleeps in the city’s night, a balloonist rises toward a trackless sky, and an old clock unwinds inside an empty house. In Hagiwara Sakutarō’s Blue Cat, ordinary streets, rooms, animals, and bodies become scenes of longing, exhaustion, and uncanny beauty.

This complete translation follows the definitive Japanese edition, bringing together sixty-nine poems with the author’s substantial preface, the texts accompanying five illustrations, Kurahara Shinjirō’s critical essay, and a closing statement about the poems’ authoritative form. The original collection appeared in 1923; the definitive edition gathers and revises poems first published between 1917 and 1928.

One of modern Japan’s distinctive poets, Hagiwara explores melancholy through supple free verse and startling physical images. His cats, butterflies, harbors, vacant houses, and crowded streets keep their strangeness in English. The line structure and stanza breaks are preserved, and brief notes explain unusual terms and textual details. The supplied source contains no illustration images; their captions and accompanying texts are included. AI-assisted translation, prepared and edited by Valentin Sarić.