Category: Matsuo Basho 松尾 芭蕉

Inazuma ya!Yami no kata yukuGoi no koe.—Basho A quick lightning flash!Traveling through the blacknessThe night heron calls. A striking word-picture of an evening storm and a wild bird’sreaction. The lightning and the bird both fly through the darkness. The sharp cry of the night heron emphasizes the solitude ofthe occasion and the suddenness of the…

Aki fukakiTonari wa nani woSuru hito zo.—Basho It is late autumnI wonder what my neighborsWill be doing now. The harvest has been completed, and the outdoor chores in preparation for winter are done. Since there is stillness in the entireneighborhood and no further work, the poet wonders what hisindustrious farmer friends will do to occupy…

Mono iebaKuchibiru samushiAki no kaze.—Basho When a thing is said,The lips become very coldLike the autumn wind. The philosopher-poet makes the observation that after a thing issaid, the lips become quite cold; that is, for the one who made theremark, the situation is as dreary and bleak as the cold autumnwind. The obvious moral—think carefully…

Furu-ike ya!Kawazu tobikomuMizu no oto.—Basho Into the old pondA frog suddenly plunges.The sound of water. This is perhaps Basho’s best-known haiku. The profound silencein the ancient garden is suddenly broken by “the sound ofwater,” a literal translation of the third line of the poem, as a frogleaps into the pond. During the last ten years…

HototogisuO-takeyabu woMom tsukiyo.—Basho Hear the sweet cuckoo.Through the big-bamboo thicketThe full moon filters. Does the grove of big-bamboo filter the song of the bird, or themoonlight, or both? This haiku like many others may haveseveral meanings. The verb moru, generally translated “ leak,” hasthe additional meanings of “ filter ” and “ trickle.”

Michi nobe noMukuge wa uma niKuware keri.—Basho By the roadside grewA rose of Sharon. My horseHas just eaten it. Though a statement of fact, the poem carries overtones emphasized by Zen teachings of the shortness of life, no matter howbeautiful.

Samidare woAtsumete hayashiMogami-gawa.—Basho Early summer rainsGathering, form the rapidMogami River. The Japanese word samidare translated “early summer rains ” isliterally “ fifth month rain,” and since the lunar calendar was inuse some three hundred years ago, when Basho lived, the fifthmonth was what we now call June, the nyubai or rainy season,when rain often falls…

Kasa mo nakiWare wo shigururu kaNanto nantol—Basho With no bamboo hatDoes the drizzle fall on me?What care I of that ? The last line of this haiku might also be freely and colloquiallyrendered, “ I don’t give a dam.” Note that in the original Japanese of this haiku there are eight syllables in the second…

Ie wa minaTsue ni shiraga noHaka mairi.—Basho All the familyEquipped with staves and grey-haired.Visiting the graves. Summer is the season for visiting the graves of ancestors. On thisoccasion, the poet, noticing that all in the family group are quiteelderly, implies that before long they, too, will be laid to rest.

Natsu-kusa ya!Tsuwamono-domo gaYume no ato.—Basho You summer grasses!Glorious dreams of great warriorsNow only ruins. This poem was composed as Basho sat and wept over the grass-covered remains of Takadate Casde, the headquarters of the greatFujiwara clan. The glories of yesterday too soon are forgotten andbecome the ashes or weed-covered remains of today.