Six Haiku by Bash�
Te wo uteba kodama ni akuru natsu no tsuki
as I clap my hands
with the echoes, it begins to dawn —
the summer moon
Susuhaki wa ono ga tana tsuru daiku kana
housecleaning day —
hanging a shelf at his own house
a carpenter
Hototogisu otakeyabu wo moru tsukiyo
hototogisu (little cuckoo) —
through a vast bamboo forest
moonlight seeping
Kareeda ni karasu no tomarikeri aki no kure
on a bare branch
a crow has alighted
autumn evening.
Akebono ya shirauo shiroki koto issun
in the twilight of dawn
a whitefish, with an inch
of whiteness.
Kirishigure Fuji wo minu hi zo omoshiroki
in the misty rain
Mount Fuji is veiled all day —
how intriguing!
From Bashô and His Interpreters: Selected
Hokku with Commentary, by Makoto Ueda (Stanford University Press,
1991) 102, 314, 317, 374. Translations for "Kareeda ni karasu
no tomarikeri aki no kure" and "Kebono ya shirauo shiroki
koto issun" provided by Haruo Shirane, Professor of Japanese
Literature, Columbia University. |