Sakai Yamei

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SAKAI YAMEI

坂井野明 (さかい　やめい)
? - 1713
(1662-1713)

He was a ronin of the Kuroda Clan in Hakata, Kyushu.
He lived with Kyoarai in Sagamino (near Kyoto).
His Haiku Name, YAMEI, was given to him by Matsuo Basho.
Sometimes he is called Hoojin 鳳仭.

Hoo 鳳 is a phoenix, and jin means an old Chinese measure of four to seven shaku (one shaku is about one foot, ca. 30 cm).
Its Character 仭 also implies the meaning of a blade, this the pun is good in this name.


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春の野を只一呑みや雉子の聲
春の野をたゞ一のミや雉子の聲　
haru no no o tada hito nomi ya kiji no koe

in a field in spring
this is overwhelming -
the call of a pheasant

(I am trying the above rendering in English. There is a cut marker at the end of line 2.
Looking at the Chinese characters, I understand NOMI as "to be overwhelmed" のむ【呑む】, not a form of the verb NOMU 飲む, swallowing　or drinking something,. We do have hito-nomi, hitonomi ひとのみ 一飲みにする drink at a single draft.
English version by Gabi Greve


quote
The first draft of this haiku read

春風や広野にうてぬ雉子（きじ）の声
harukaze ya kooya ni utenu kiji no koe

utenu, a form of the verb uteru, meaning "to be impressed, overwhelmed".
utenu could however be mixed up with 撃てぬ, not to shoot

so the next draft was

広き野をただ一（ひと）のみや雉子（きじ）の声
hiroki no o tada hito nomi ya kiji no koe

The word UTENU has been transformed to more clear version of "tada hito-nomi ya".

But then, the first line did not read smoothly enough and in the end, this version was choosen

春の野をただ一のミや雉子の声
haru no no o tada hito nomi ya kiji no koe

source : yukineko


. . . . .


To understand HITONOMI as "in one gulp" is also possible. This leads to the following translations:


quote
Faced with such paradoxes Blyth advises "some vivacity of energy .... lest the intellect arrive and split hairs." They must be "swallowed in one gulp", like Yamei's pheasant:

In one single cry,
The pheasant has swallowed
The broad field.
(tr. Blyth)
source : ZEN AND THE ART OF HAIKU



In a single cry
the pheasant has swallowed
the fields of spring
(tr. ?


source : Translations of Yamei


hiroki no o . . . . the broad fields
tada hito-nomi ya . . . . are swallowed in one
kiji no koe . . . . pheasant’s cry
Tr. M. Haldane



Le champ immense —d'un crile faisan l'engloutit !
source : canal blog



Al inmenso campo
De un grito
El faisán lo devora
source : www.poeticas.com.ar




kiji no koe 雉の声 "voice of the pheasant"

Translating the "voice of an animal"



Now the comments of some friends on Facebook

John Tiong Chunghoo writes

My japanese friend translated this:

A field in the spring
It is overwhelming
Voice of a pheasant

"呑む nomu" means "drink (beverage)"
"repress (feelings)" "overwhelm".
So first I thought the writer was drinking sake in a field in spring (like hanami -- enjoying cherry blossom), then heard voice of a pheasant. But I guess it actually depicts the overwhelming impression that a pheasant gave by one voice. If I don't try literal translation, it would be;
"A voice of a pheasant dominated a field in the spring".
--- But I'm not so sure if I'm reading it right.

or

haru no no means spring field o is a verb hito nomi means alone drinking ya kiji no koe means the cry of a pheasant.

so the line actually means

the spring field
as i drink alone
the cry of a pheasant


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平押に五反田くもる時雨かな　
hira-oshi ni gotanda kumoru shigure kana

in one rush
the five ars of fields in clouds
and then the winter drizzle




駒買ひに出迎ふ野べの薄かな　　
koma kai ni demukae nobe no susuki kana

I go out to buy a young horse
the pampas grass by the roadside is welcoming me

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Reference : 坂井野明


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. Matsuo Basho visiting Yamei in Saga, Kyoto .






涼しさを絵にうつしけり嵯峨の竹
suzushisa o e ni utsushi keri Saga no take

Coolness.
Painted into a picture;
Bamboos of Saga.
Tr. Blyth


la fraîcheur peinte
dans une peinture ;
les bambous de Saga
Tr. Daniel Py

Matsuo Basho　松尾芭蕉
元禄7年 - 1694

Basho was staying at the home of Yamei 野明亭, a friend of Kyorai.



. Mukai Kyorai 向井去来 .



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