Samurai Sonnet

from Quiver by Ken Yoshikawa

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$1 USD or more
Buy the Full Digital Album

about

This poem came about from a true story of a real live pair of white persons who wanted to put on a stage version of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. While they had a Portland level diverse cast in mind, they didn't consult with Japanese American community. I find this important to remark because the Japanese American community in Portland is just barely holding onto the final vestige of old Japantown which was erased with WWII Japanese Incarceration. So consider my salt drawn straight from the ocean of that misery.
My family was not incarcerated, they were in Japan. Yet, it remains important for me to speak to, especially with my male and familial white privilege.

lyrics

Samurai Sonnet

So you would like to be a samurai,
Put on the battle armor, wield the sword;
But you must understand ere you banzai
You'll have to swear your life unto a Lord.
Do you have loyalty enough to kill
The instant of their charge whoe'er they mark;
Or are you here for power and the thrill,
A culture tour to dally in and lark?
If all the years of training, cruel stakes,
Austere and grueling life of meditation,
Allegiance, ritual is what it takes -
To sober slay thyself - such preparation
Alike then ow'st thou to the people's name:
The heritage from whence the story came.

credits

from Quiver, released March 30, 2019

license

about

Ken Yoshikawa Portland, Oregon

Ken Yoshikawa is a shin-issei/first generation half-Japanese American poet-actor from Portland, OR. He has been active in the Portland Poetry Slam community since 2014. He loves blue chicken taco trees and resents punctuation and grammar at his convenience. ... more