Category: Matsuo Basho 松尾 芭蕉

HototogisuNaki, nalci tobu zoIsogawashi.—Basho Hark to that cuckoo.Ceaselessly singing in flight,How very busy! A beautiful word picture which also teaches humans to keep occupied and to be joyful in work. The second line of the Japanesepoem can be translated literally, “Singing, singing while flying.”

Yase sune moAreba 20, hana noYoshino-yama.—Basho Though my shanks are thinI go where flowers blossom,Yoshino Mountain. So beautiful and numerous are the wild cherry blossoms of MountYoshino in Nara Prefecture that they are well worth the six-thousand-foot climb by an old man whose legs are thin and lessstrong than they were in youth. So the…

Ochizama niMizu koboshi keriHana tsubaki.—Basho Falling upon earth,Pure water spills from the cupOf the camellia. In Japanese literature the samurai is often compared to the camellia whose flower lasts only a few days and then falls in one pieceto the ground. So like that of the flower, the samurai’s life maybe brilliant but short. In…

Kome no nakiToki wa hisago niOminaeshi.—Basho At a riceless time.The gourd receptacle holdsAn ominaeshi. “Riceless times” for peasants and the poor were frequent inseventeenth-century Japan. People then would eat barley, sweetpotatoes, or weeds from the field. The ominaeshi, a flower knownfor its fragile beauty, is not inedible. The Chinese ideographs forit can also be read…

Furyu noHajime ya! oku noTa-ue uta.—Basho Pristine elegance! There, in the interior, The rice-planting song. One day Basho and a friend were having a discussion as to whetherelegance could be found in rural areas. While they were debatingthe point, a beautiful song came from an adjoining field wherewomen were transplanting rice. Whereupon Basho composedthis haiku,…

Kane kieteHana no ka \va tsukuYube kana.—Basho Temple bells die out.The fragrant blossoms remain.A perfect evening! Note how marvelously the poet in seventeen syllables has caughtthe beauty and serenity of a late spring evening at a mountaintemple. One can almost hear the deep toll of the huge bell, seethe white and pink blossoms of the…

Shiho yoriHana fuki ireteNio-no-umi.—Basho From all directionsCherry blossoms blow uponTwo-Deva-Kings-Lake. This lake, better known as Lake Biwa or Omi Lake, is the largestfresh water body in Japan; the thousands of cherry trees growingon its shores are a marvelously beautiful sight when they are infull flower. The Two Deva Kings (nio), Indra and Brahma, areimportant Hindu…

Ham nare ya!Namo naki yama noUsu-gasumi.—Basho Has spring come indeed ?On that nameless mountain lieThin layers of mist. “Nameless,” not because the mountain had no name, but becausethe poet did not wish to single out one from the many beautifulpeaks in the Nara region. Note how Basho contrasts the beginningof the season with the beginning…

Ume-ga-ka niNotto hi no deruYamaji kana.—Basho On sweet plum blossomsThe sun rises suddenly.Look, a mountain path! The combination of the beauty and fragrance of plum blossomslining the mountain path as the sun appears over the horizon,excites the wonder and admiration of the poet.Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), the greatest haiku writer of alltime, was born in a…

a flowervisible to the eyes of the poorthe plumed thistle ogre