HAIKU Selection

Haiku Selected by SATO Kazuo
Co-translations by SATO Kazuo,
Patricia DONEGAN & KONDO Tadashi

bôtan no hyaku no yururu wa yu no yôni

peonies --
hundreds swaying
like a hot bath

MORI Sumio (1919-)


yamaguni no sora ni asoberu rakka kana

in the mountainside sky
cherry petals play
as they fall ...

KUSAMA Tokihiko (1920-2003)


tsuki ichirin tôko ichirin hikariau

the disk moon
the disk frozen lake
reflecting each other

HASHIMOTO Takako (1899-1963)


kogarashi no hate wa arikeri umi no oto

bitter winter wind
ends there --
sound of the sea

IKENISHI Gonsui (1650-1722)

comment:

The word kogarashi reminds us Japanese of the bitter cold wind in the winter which may be beyond imagination for people in warmer countries. I have spent some winters in a colder country than Japan, but I felt the Japanese winter was much colder than that. It may be because of the moisture and the housing architecture. The kogarashi in the Edo Period must have been much severer than now, which may explain the reason why this haiku became popular then.

Gonsui, later surely influenced modern poets like YAMAGUCHI Seishi who wrote a related haiku about the WW II suicide bomber pilots in his famous haiku:

umi ni dete kogarashi kaeru tokoro nashi

out to the sea --
bitter winter wind
has no place to return


ten mo chi mo nashi tada yuki no furishikiru

no sky
no land -- just
snow falling

KAJIWARA Hashin (1864-?)

comment:

This haiku is quite famous outside of Japan; in fact, there are several translations in English and other languages like Flemish and Dutch. But it is not famous in Japan and is not even cited in the saijiki. Saijiki are the books of season words which are quite important for Japanese haiku poets, and they came in many different sizes. Even a small saijiki has references to one or two haiku by a famous poet. This haiku by Hashin, however, cannot be found in any saijiki as far as I know. But I chose this haiku because it is a great haiku and is cited by haiku books in many foreign countries.

This haiku was first translated by MIYAMORI Asataro (before English professor at Keio University) and his translation was later read by famous Western haiku translators: R. H. Blyth and Harold Henderson. This haiku is easy to translate; there are some haiku that are good but still untranslatable, but this haiku is both good and very translatable, thus its appeal. The haijin Hashin was a disciple of Kyoshi and a druggist; other than that his background is unknown, but he left behind this one good haiku.


mizugame ni kaeru ukunari satsukiame

a frog floating
in the water jar --
summer rain

MASAOKA Shiki (1867-1902)

comment:

For most European people frogs are grotesque and strange little animals. In Japan frogs live in paddy fields, and because of their charming sound and harmless nature (in fact they keep the rice paddies from bad insects), they have been referred to as a spring season word from ancient times. They are different from ugly toads. Many haiku have been made on them, one of the most famous being the one by Basho: "old pond / a frog jumps in / the sound of water". Shiki is best known among modern haiku poets, and this haiku was first translated by Blyth, and, following its strange destiny, was picked up by the American beat poets.

This well-known haiku of Shiki's, was translated by R.H.Blyth like this:

a frog floating
in the water jar --
rain of summer

Interestingly, much later when American beat poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-1998) read Blyth's translations in the 1950's and began practicing his own haiku, he wrote a very similar one:

a frog floating
in the drugstore jar
summer rain on the pavement


hajimete no yuki yami ni furi yami ni yamu

first snow --
begins in the darkness
ends in the darkness

NOZAWA Setsuko (1920-1995)


kogarashi no ima ya fukutomo chiru ha nashi

bitter winter wind --
blowing now
yet no leaves to drop

NATSUME Sôseki (1867-1916)


fuyunami wa sono kage no e ni kutsugaeru

winter waves
break and turn over
their own shadow

TOMINAGA Fûsei (1885-1970)


matenrô yori shinryoku ga paseri hodo

from a skyscraper
the new green leaves
like parsley

TAKAHA Shugyo (1930-)


shiawase no machiiru gotoku hatsugoyomi

as if happiness
is waiting ahead --
the new calendar

INAHATA Teiko (1931-)