A tentative translation of the long poem that President Ikeda wrote after viewing Russian Painter Ivan Aivazovsky’s Painting titled “The Ninth Wave” that was displayed at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. This poem was introduced in the Nov. 10 issue of the Seikyo Shinbun.
Viewing “The Ninth Wave”
I was touched.
I was moved by the infinity of human courage.
There I saw nature’s overwhelming power.
I saw human beings’ robust power to survive.
No picture I have ever seen
Depicts so symbolically
A scene of battle
Between life and nature
As this one.
I will never forget the way
These people fought out
To overcome this raging wave.
It is well known
That this painting titled “The Ninth Wave”
Was drawn by Aivazovsky,
Greatest artist of Russia in the 19th century.
In 1850, he poured his life
Into creating this masterpiece
He was 32.
He was a master painter of oceanic scenes.
He painted some 6,000 paints
In his sixty years of art life.
He was very quick
In producing his paintings.
Once he took a brush,
He spared nothing of his being
Into his art.
He stated,
“Patient efforts alone
Enables one to gain victory.
This applies to any field of endeavor.
Therefore, the important thing is
Never to spoil yourself,
And never to slacken.”
He improved himself ceaselessly.
When he was asked
Which picture he liked most.
He stated, “My favorite picture among all my pictures
Is the unfinished one
That I have begun to paint today.”
“The Ninth Wave”
Is most adored among all his paints.
It is regarded as
The apex of the Russian art.
In this picture
I saw his urge
To be courageous
As a human being.
I assume that
He must have wanted
Through painting this picture
To eternalize a desperate and relentless battle
In his heart
As a case of miraculous victory.
At one time
He jumped out of bed
To paint this picture.
At another time,
He must have given
All he had in him
To move on to finish this work.
Because he had his own belief,
He wanted to teach
Through this painting
That human beings have the mission and power
To overcome an impossible predicament
And unbearable sufferings.
Colorful fame did not gain his attention.
High positions did not attract him, either.
He wrote about the passion
That he put into this work:
“You can beat me
If you want to do so.
You can disparage me
If that is what you want to do.
Even if I get imprisoned
Due to my commitment to this work
I will take my imprisonment
As an honor.
And I will complete this work
Triumphantly.”
No fear can defeat the human heart.
No hardship can conquer human courage.
“Overcome every obstacle
That will stand in your way.
Make sure to surmount them all” –
This wholehearted message
Was contained in his work.
This painting measures
Two meters in height
And more than three meters in width.
The raging ocean
Occupies the entire space
Of this painting.
Six individuals are fighting
Against a raging wave
While holding onto the broken must
Of their wrecked boat.
Thrown out in the dark ocean,
They may have spent a long night there.
One of them seems to have almost given up
Ready to get lose in the raging sea.
What occupied his heart at that very moment,
I wonder.
In this picture
We also see a brave man
Giving his hand
To the falling man
While risking his own life
Amid the raging wave.
Another man is shouting,
Hanging on the broken must,
In the midst of the roaring wave
He is holding high a piece of red cloth.
Something is afloat
On the surface of the ocean
In the direction he looked to.
It was a human being!
He is one of their fellow crew.
Holding onto a piece of wood,
He was fighting against the stormy wave.
An art scholar asserts
That this courageous man,
Desperate to survive amid the raging wave,
Is the chief character of The Ninth Wave.
I could hear the shout
That a man continues to send
To his friend
While his shout is almost overshadowed
By the raging noises of the storm and waves
It was under this circumstance
That another wave,
The Ninth Wave,
Which might have been as high as twenty
meters,
Was about the roar over them,
Generating wild white splashes
Toward the Sky.
Grown into colossal one,
This ninth wave is relentless
And cruel in attacking them,
The Ninth Wave
Denotes the wave
That is the toughest and severest.
It has been said among boatmen
Since ancient times
That the stormy waves have their own cycle
And that the ninth one is most formidable.
However, because it marks the utmost hardship,
You will see a great path open up before you
When you have persevered to surmount it.
And now is the very moment
That you have to exert yourself utmost
To get over this most powerful wave.
Baratwinski, his contemporary and Russian poet,
Who sang about nature and humanity, declared:
“This big ocean!
I now seek a stormy ocean.
Enrage!
Pound your stormy waves on rocks.
My spirit soars
As I hear your vehement roars
I have been looking forward to
Your emergence.
To me, you signal the commencement
Of my battle with you.
My heart elates as I face
The hatred of my gigantic enemy.”
What a grand statement!
What a boundlessly courageous remark!
My life echoes with his fearless words.”
Only a hero
Who courageously fought out
While enjoying struggles
Without fear and cowardice
Can win over a storm.
I am all right even if I die.
But you must live.
You must live out.
This may be the last moment
Nay, I myself have to live on.
I have to swim on
To defeat this storm.
The huge wave is in fury
Attempting to kill us.
But I will never succumb
To this persecution!
I will have endless waves of regret
Throughout my life
If I quit swimming here.
Wild waves are getting even higher.
They won’t stop getting higher.
However, if I overcome this storm
I will shine as a great hero of life
Praising myself for my accomplishment,
Even if my victory may go unrecognized by
others.
No one may be witnessing my struggles.
No one may testify in my favor.
A cowardly person may say,
“His honor is groundless.”
Such a coward will surely deliver you
A storm of base hearsays
Jealous of our honorable existence,
These cowards will distort
The stories of our victory and justice,
Slandering us without any reservation.
Being disparaged is nothing!
Don’t ever lose your pride!
I will establish my happiness
Within my life, anyway.
Your must win in your own bout.
Crown your life with an eternal victory.
Engrave it in the annals of your own life.
The Lotus Sutra
Referring to the power and function of the
Mystic Law,
States that “Even if you are adrift in the open
sea,
Waves won’t be able to drown you,
Even in the midst of your encounter
With a devilish dragon fish…”
The person who is dedicated
To the justice of the True Law
Can definitely unleash the power
To crush any stormy obstacle.
We can promote kosen-rufu
Only when we can defiantly
Win over one wave of obstacle
After another.
Great Russian Writer Dostoevsky
Praised the art of The Ninth Wave
“There is joy in this stormy painting.”
In the attacking storm, there is an eternal beauty
That powerfully moves the hearts of its viewers.
Look!
Beyond the people
Who have exhausted their energies
In their fight against numerous hardships
Is rising the morning sun of hope,
Illuminating the great heavens
Causing them to shine.
He successfully swam through
Out of his vehement wave of persecution
Avoided his own death.
Warm tears of joy well up.
His eyes, which gaze at
Chains of sorrow in the wave,
Recognize an eternally changeless, green land
Afar.
The wave of hardship
That disparaged him
Became a little quiet
Admitting his victorious efforts.
He has won!
Indeed, he has won!
The glorious sun has arisen
In his young heart.
He did not run away from his ordeal.
He has doubtlessly surmounted the raging wave!
He has one over horrifying waves!
He has one over the wild ocean!
He has won over the ultimate wave!
He has nobly won!
He has won with his patience and efforts!
After viewing this painting,
My wife quietly saw my face
And said to me,
“It is the same as your life.”
When I was nineteen,
I wrote a poem:
“A young man will save Japan,
As he won’t waver
Before a raging wave.”
The morning of hope and peace awaits
Anybody, any human being
Who is courageous.
You,
Stand up with your new determination!
The great sun of victory
Will certainly wait for you,
Signaling your glory ahead.
Daisaku Ikeda
November 5, 2003
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