Tsubouchi Nenten

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Tsubouchi Nenten 坪内稔典
Tsubouchi Toshinori, Nenten Tsubouchi
1944, April 22 -

Nenten Tsubouchi is a haiku poet whose unique and quirky poems have been featured in elementary school textbooks in Japan. He was born in the Kuchō neighborhood of Ikata 伊方町, a small town in Ehime prefecture.
source : Ikata,_Ehime

He also coined the expression KATAKOTO (かたこと【片言】) "chips of words", for a kind of baby talk babbeling, prattle, fragmented and broken language sometimes used in haiku.


©　Photo : www.bunet.jp


quote
Burning Hippo, Chuckling Beans
& Dandy Dandelions,
by robin d gill

Tsubouchi Nenten’s ku were first brought to my attention by Japanese haiyû (friends in haiku) reacting to the occasional odd ku I tossed into (I hate the English “submit”) the haiku bbs’s where we hang out. By odd, I mean ku with Chinese characters alone, including English words in Roman letters, invented words and wordplay, using commas or other punctuation marks, etc. Grateful to have a senpai (senior) in oddness and liking some of the examples given to prove it, I came to feel affection for the poet, though I never got around to reading enough of his poems to know if I liked his work taken as a whole.

1. tanpopo no popo no atari ga kaji desuyo
2. sangatsu no amanattoo no ufufufufu
3. batta tobu ajia no sora no usumidori
4. suichuu no kaba ga moemasu botanyuki

5. sakura chiru anata mo kaba ni narinasai
cherry blossoms fall — / you too must become / a hippo (trans. g+y)

6. haru o neru yabure kabure no yô ni kaba
7. harukaze ni haha shinu ryuukakusan ga chiri

Read the full text HERE
source : www.roadrunnerjournal.net, May 2008


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Nenten ya
another slice
of the haiku moon

Gabi Greve, August 2009

(I saw him on TV, in a Haiku program with young students from the Matsuyama Haiku Kooshien "Olympics" Competition) . In the section of free verse from all people, he had choosen mostly haiku about the hippopotomus.
He is from Ehime and was one of the originators of this now very famous haiku competition.
Haiku Koshien 。。。俳句甲子園 　more English links.



He is very fond of the hippopotamus and has written many haiku about it. He travelled to many zoos to look at them and write about them.
Hippopotamus haiku 河馬の俳句




桜散るあなたも河馬になりなさい　
sakura chiru anata mo kaba ni narinasai



falling cherry blossoms -
you also must become
a hippopotamus





三月の甘納豆のうふふふふ
sangatsu no amanattoo no ufufufufu

sugar-glazed beans
of March
u fu fu fu fu

Amanatto 甘納豆 12句 / 12 haiku about sugar-glazed beans
Translated by Gabi Greve


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


quote
Studied Japanese literature at Ritsumeikan University where he received an MA degree, and became a scholar. Acted as editor of the Journal of the Modern Haiku Association, Gendai Haiku, 1976--1985. In 1986 founded his own haiku circle and journal, Sendan no kai. Emeritus Professor, Kyoto University of Education, and Professor, Bukkyo University. Tsubouchi Nenten is also a committee member of the 'Study of Rivers' in Japanese Literature [Nihon bungaku ni okeru kasen], and a member of the Modern Haiku Association.

Listen to an interview with him:
source : gendaihaiku.com


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


雪が来るコントラバスに君はなれ

. it is going go snow -
please, dear,
become a contrabass .


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


たんぽぽのぽぽのあたりが火事ですよ
tanpopo no POPO no atari ga kaji desu yo　　

the POPO part
of a tanPOPO
is on fire !


This is a play with the sound of the word TANPOPO.
I guess Nenten sensei is aware of the meaning of POPO in German.


. Dandelion (tanpopo たんぽぽ) 　


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Japanese Reference

坪内 稔典


*****************************
Related words

***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Yamaguchi Seison

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Yamaguchi Seison 山口青邨

May 10, 1892 - December 15, 1988

born as Yamaguchi Kichiroo (山口吉朗) in Morioka, Iwate prefecture.

He studied engineering at the Tokyo University and worked there as a professor.
He learned haiku from Takahama Kyoshi. He is known for his haiku "with a taste of the earth" and there are many from his home region,
Michinoku 陸奥, as the Northern parts of Japan around Iwaki 磐城 and Iwashiro 岩代 and the three regions of the Mutsu 陸前 ・ 陸中 ・ 陸奥 are known.
(Michinoku is the short version of "michi no oku" . Today parts of the former Michinoku area are situated in Aomori, Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima.)

. Michinoku, Mutsu 陸奥 region in Tohoku .


Together with Mizuhara Shuoshi, Yamaguchi Seishi, Tomiyasu Fusei and Takano Suju he founded the Haiku Group of Tokyo University in 1922.
水原秋桜子、山口誓子、富安風生、高野素十
Reference


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::




みちのくの淋代の浜若布寄す
Michinoku no Sabishiro no hama no wakame yosu

at the beach
of Sabishiro in Michinoku
kelp is drifting to shore


Sabishiro is a coastal town near Mitsuzawa in Aomori prefecture
青森県三沢市. The origin of this name is not clear, but basically it means "lonely place" and the area is quite remote.
Just by using this place name the reader can imagine a lonely coastline, where wakame is swept to the beach by the strong wind. It smells of the coming spring.
Before the war, this beach and harbour was famous for catching iwashi sardines.

Sabishiro is famous for a special flight of two young Americans in 1931.

quote
Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon's Bellanca aircraft, named "Miss Veedol 「ミス・ヴィードル号」," made the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean. Taking off from Sabishiro Beach in Misawa, Aomori Prefecture in Japan, and flying over 5,000 miles for 41 hours and changing the landing point due to the weather, Miss Veedol made a belly-landing on a field in East Wenatchee, Wash., on Oct. 4, 1931.

Miss Veedol

One aviator left his boots off before the flight because he wanted to lessen the plane's weight as much as possible. With the community's help, the plane was secretly remodeled to enlarge the fuel tank and also enable the pilot to drop the landing gear to gain airspeed and reduce weight.

Local residents created a hand-made wooden ramp on an 8,000-foot beach. A local Japanese woman presented a box of apples for supper during the flight.

The city found the impact of the Miss Veedol story. Receiving the apples from Pangborn, the city of Wenatchee responded with a gift of seedlings of Richard Delicious apples to Misawa. On the 40th anniversary of the flight in 1971, the main apple producing cities in both countries established their sister city relationships.

And after over 70 years have passed, the Miss Veedol story raised a big project in the Wenatchee community.

more in the Community News Online,
Vol. 63, Issue 28 / July 2, 2008
http://www.napost.com/eng/communityjuly2.html

By the way, on this LINK you also find a mention of the
The Haiku Society of America Weekend June 27 - 29 in Seattle.



WKD : Wakame kelp Undaria pinnatifida


. PLACE NAMES used in Haiku 　

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


初富士のかなしきまでに遠きかな
hatsu fuji no kanashiki made ni tooki kana

first view of Mt. Fuji
until I have become so sad
at such a distance

Mountains and Haiku




菊咲けり陶淵明の菊咲けり
kiku sakeri Too Enmei no kiku sakeri

chrysanthemum blossoms -
the chrysanthemums of
To Enmei blossom

WKD : To Enmei / Tao Yuanming 　陶淵明


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


玉虫の羽のみどりは推古より
tamamshi no hane no midori wa Suiko yori

the green
of the Jewel Beetle's wings
since the time of Suiko . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve


. The Tamamushi Zushi 玉虫厨子 tabernacle .
and tamamushi 玉虫 / 金花虫 jewel beetle


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


色鳥はわが読む本にひるがへり
irodori wa waga yomu hon ni hirugaeri

WKD : Birds of Autumn



濃き紅は 林檎の肩を あふれ越ゆ

WKD : Apples and Haiku




黒仏いづこか春の光あり

. Black Buddha Statue 黒仏 kurobotoke .


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::






みちのくの乾鮭獣の如く吊り

the dried salmon
of Michinoku hang there
like wild beasts



みちのくの鮭は醜し吾もみちのく
Michinoku no sake wa minikushi ware mo Michinoku

the salmon from
Michinoku are so ugly -
I am also from Michinoku


WKD : Salmon and Haiku


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



source :　zouhai.com


蘭の名はマリリンモンロー唇々々
ran no na wa maririn monroo kuchi kuchi kuchi

the name of this orchid
is Marylin Monroe -
mouth mouth mouth




. WKD : Marilyn Monroe .


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Japanese Reference

山口青邨


. Seison - translated by Gabi Greve .


*****************************
Related words

***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mori Sumio

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mori Sumio 森澄雄

1919-August 18, 2010



He was born in Nagasaki.
Other sources quote a town near Himeji as his place of birth.
His haiku teacher was Kato Shuson.

Since 1940 he was a supporter of the haiku magazine
Kanrai 寒雷 (Thunder in Winter).

After the war, he worked as a teacher in various schools.
His first haiku collection in 1954 was
Yukitsubute 雪礫 The Snowball

In 1970 he founded his own haiku magazine, called
Sugi 杉 Cedar Tree.
He pinned many haiku about the love among a good couple.

He received many literatur awards for his haiku.

©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


. . . Mori Sumio, haiku tr. by Gabi Greve



I learned of his death from Japanese television on August 18.
He died of pneumonia in a hospital in Tokyo, after feeling unwell since March of this year. He kept writing haiku even on his sickbed.


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


quote
The American Haiku Movement

. . . by the late 1980s haiku poets around the world were gradually becoming aware of each other, and tentative contacts were beginning to be made.
Two Japanese guests, Yamamoto Kenkichi and Mori Sumio, were invited to participate in the festivities celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Haiku Society of America (HSA) on September 17, 1978.
source : www.modernhaiku.org


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


ぼうたんの百のゆるるは湯のやうに
bôtan no hyaku no yururu wa yu no yôni

peonies --
hundreds swaying
like a hot bath

source : www.haiku-hia.com


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

紅梅を近江に見たり義仲忌　

in Omi
I enjoy the red plum blossoms -
Yoshinaka Memorial Day


Minamoto no Yoshinaka 源義仲
burried at temple Gichu-Ji in Omi


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


除夜の妻白鳥のごと湯浴みをり
joya no tsuma hakuchoo no goto yu-ami ori

on New Year's eve
my wife takes a bath
like a white swan




冬蕨「樹下の石仏」我と逢ふ
fuyu warabi juka no ishibotoke ware to au

winter bracken -
the stone Buddha below the trees
meets with me

Stone Buddhas and Haiku




地蔵会のこどもの色の紅冬瓜
Jizoo-e no kodomo no iro no beni toogan

the color of children
at the Jizo Service -
winter wax gourd

Jizo Bosatsu and Haiku




冬籠その一日の達磨の忌
fuyugomori sono ichinichi no Daruma no ki

winter seclusion -
one of these days in memory of
Daruma san

Daruma Memorial Day - KIGO


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



Reference : Mori Sumio


Japanese Reference

森澄雄


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Kanrai (Midwinter Thunder)

Kanrai is a haiku group started before the war by KATOH Shuson when he broke away from the teachings of MIZUHARA Shuoshi. Shuoshi's sensei was TAKAHAMA Kyoshi who was instructed by MASAOKA Shiki, the father of modern haiku.
Shuson's school was termed "the faction searching for humanity".
Some of its first members include TAGAWA Hiroshi, KANEKO Tohta (very abstract, extremely involved in International haiku), MORI Sumio, KAWASAKI Tenko, YAJIMA Nagisao and other big names in Japanese haiku.
The magazine "Fuyoh" (Rose Mallow) run by SUGAWA Yoko sprang out of the Kanrai melting pot. Shuson passed away in 1993 and now the group is run by a committee. It is a fairly traditional haiku school involved with searching for truths using nature as a theme. Kanrai magazine has monthly meetings on the third Sunday of the month and is also published monthly.
source : Dhugal J. Lindsay


*****************************
Related words


. Kato Shuson, 加藤楸邨 　



***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::　

Death Poems - Koha

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Koha (Kooha)　香波
"Fragrant Wave"

? - 1897、August 14

I found very littel information about this poet.
If you, gentle reader, have any more information about this poet, please let me know or add it as a comment to this entry.



There is one death poem of him/her available at google books


fude nagete tsuki ni mono iu bakari nari

I cast the brush aside -
from here on I'll speak to the moon
face to face.
Tr. Yoel Hoffman


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::




Haiga by Ashe, the Greenleaf Files
source : http://thegreenleaf.co.uk


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


The Japanese does not mention "face to face",
so I offer two possible translations


I throw my brush away -
from now on I speak only
to the moon

'from now on I speak to nobody and nothing but the moon'



I throw my brush away -
from now on I only speak
to the moon

'from now on I just speak to the moon,
rather than attempt to represent it.'



Thanks to Lorin Ford, there is this to consider:


" Thanks for your translation of Koha's death poem, Gabi. It's a revelation to realise that 'face to face' isn't indicated in the original Japanese. The poem reads quite differently without it. I like it better, in fact, as 'face to face' struck me as a literary conceit that distracted from the simplicity of the renunciation of the brush and the artwork or poetry they represent.

I wonder if Hoffman might've been attempting to import an allusion to:

1 Corinthians 13:12
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

(A verse from the Bible which has been alluded to many, many times in literature and film, as have many other bible passages.)

Lorin Ford


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


another way of looking at this:

The new translation is very illuminating. I feel the poet is alluding to the zen phrase warning us not to confuse fingers pointing at the moon with the moon itself. 'Moon' symbolising consciousness/buddha nature/all-that-is/oneness/god (whichever label the reader prefers).
The breaking of the brush may indicate the end of 'pointing'; that is the end of thoughts attempts to illustrate/understand/witness the 'moon'.

'speaking only to the moon' could suggest realisation/enlightenment as in the quoted Chiyo-ni poem. Or, as this is a death poem, "from now on I speak to nobody and nothing but the moon," may be refering to the poets belief that after death there is only 'moon', that she/he will return/reunite with the 'moon'. The moon being consciousness/buddha nature/all-that-is/oneness/god etc.


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Mariko Shimizu reminds us

The more conventional exprssion is

fude o oru, to break the brush,
when a painter or writer gives up his work.


I have an impression that the poetess used the word "nageru," instead of "oru," though she must have the latter on her mind; she threw /cast / put away / aside her brush and was not going to use it to write her haiku.

my brush shall be no more in use --
i have only the moon
to talk to



I have a different image from the one you posted.
The person standing on the tiers and supposedly talking to the moon somehow reminds me of Friedrich Nietzsche. Because of the long coat? This is ominous, isn't it?
My image of 香葉 is that she is seated looking at the moon, out of a shoji sliding door in the clay wall.

source : my facebook


After studying the ShoboGenzo Zuimonki by Dogen, Marik writes:


no more poetry
now I have only the moon
to talk to

Discussion at Translating Haiku Forum


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


大雪と書くことたのし日記初
ooyuki to kaku koto tanoshi nikki hatsu

how nice to write
the first diary entry
in heavy snow

The name of the poet is given as 大場香波.


source : HAIKUreikuDB



::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Japanese Reference
(does not lead to any useful results)

香波

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::





death poems, farewell poems 辞世 jisei


A death poem (絶命詩) is a poem written near the time of one's own death. It is a tradition for literate people to write one in a number of different cultures, especially in Joseon Korea and Japan with the
jisei no ku (辞世の句).
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !




Jisei, a "farewell poem to life"
. Death and Graves in Haiku


. . . . .


Jisei to wa sunawachi mayoi tada shinan

Death poems
are mere delusion-
death is death.

Toko (1795)
source : Mitch Campbell 2009



Reference : Japanese Jisei Colletion



tabi ni yande yume wa kareno o kakemeguru

. Death Haiku of Matsuo Basho 1694 .

.................................................................................




白梅に明くる夜ばかりとなりにけり
shira-ume ni akuru yo bakari to nari ni keri
shira ume ni akuru yo bakari to nari ni keri


The night almost past,
through the white plum blossoms
a glimpse of dawn.
Tr. Bonta


it is now the moment
when white plum blossoms
lighten into dawn
Tr. Crowley


pure white plum blossoms
slowly begin to turn
the color of dawn
Tr. online ref

The cut marker KERI is at the end of line 3.


- - - - - and two more noted as his JISEI

冬鶯むかし王維が垣根かな
. fuyu uguisu mukashi Ooi ga kakine kana .
the hedge of chinese poet - Wang Wei 王維 -


うぐいすや何ごそつかす藪の霜
uguisu ya nani gosotsukasu yabu no shimo

hey you uguisu -
what are you looking for
in the frosted bush?
Tr. Gabi Greve


- - - - - Translations and comment by Chris Drake:

Buson's three deathbed hokku are regarded by most Japanese commentators as a single series with imagistic and tonal links between them, so I translate all three here:

1.
winter warbler
on Wang Wei's hedge
so long ago

fuyu-uguisu mukashi ōi ga kakine kana


2.
warbler, what are
the small sounds you make
in that frost-covered bush?

uguisu ya nani gosotsukasu yabu no shimo


3. Early spring
now the dawns
are filled with white
plum blossomst

shira-ume ni akuru yo bakari to narinikeri / or: shiraume no....


These three visionary hokku were literally written just before Buson died. He had been suffering from general weakness and severe chest pains since late in the fall of 1783, when he was sixty-three, and in the twelfth month he was too weak to leave his bed. In the middle of the night of 12/24 (Jan. 16, 1784) he called Gekkei, a painter who was studying under him and taking care of his needs, to bring a brush and inkstone, and he dictated the first two hokku. Then he rested for a while, and as the first light of dawn was appearing he dictated the final hokku to Gekkei. Two versions of the third hokku are given because the first version, published by Buson's protege Kitō, differs from the manuscript left by Gekkei, who made the original transcription. My translation follows Gekkei's version (shira-ume no....).

The first hokku evokes the great 8th-century Chinese poet and painter Wang Wei, a contemporary of Li Bo and Du Fu who wrote mostly nature poetry influenced by Daoism and Zen. As a painter he was also a major precursor of of later "literati artists" who sought to evoke the spirit of a landscape and valued the rhythms of natural scenes above mere technical verisimilitude. Wang did much of his best work at his country house, where he secluded himself from the world and from the wars ravaging China at the time. He was one of Buson's favorite painters, and in the first hokku Buson seems to feel his soul is traveling between 1784 and the 8th century. He hears a "winter warbler," that is, a warbler which has come down to a low-lying area to forage in the winter. In the cold months warblers make only a short, sharp cheeping call which is very different from the beautiful calls they acquire in spring. Buson is sure that the calls of the warbler outside are coming from the hedge planted around Wang Wei's country house a thousand years earlier, perhaps since in death Wang Wei and Buson are no longer separated by time. In Japanese poetry birds are often represented as souls visiting from the other world, and Buson may feel his soul has already flown as far as Wang Wei's hedge.

In the second hokku the bird seems to have come closer to the room in which Issa is lying. The bird may still be making short cries, but Buson also hears, or in his mind's ear he hears small, faint sounds coming from near or inside a frost-covered bush just outside. Are the sounds the pecking of the warbler, or its sharp footsteps scratching frosted leaves or spikes of frost on the ground, or the rustling of leaves on the bush? Buson wants to know what the small bird is doing so frenetically. Some Japanese commentators feel Buson is overlapping the warbler with himself as a kind of double. He seems worried about why the worried bird keeps making so many small sounds. Is it unable to find any food in the frost-covered garden? Will it survive? Buson seems to want to go down into the garden to help the bird with whatever it's doing. He also seems to sense the similarity between his own weak, scattered speech and the sounds made by the warbler. Perhaps this realization leads him to stop worrying and talking too much to Gekkei and to silently calm his mind, to prepare to leave the frost-covered bush of his body, and to accept death.

The third hokku suggests Buson has reached an area of peace and has experienced some kind of revelation during his final morning. Time continues to expand and contract, and the time when Buson recites the third hokku is concurrent with another time flow, a situation that causes Buson to ask Gekkei to make a headnote saying the hokku takes place in the future, in early lunar spring several days after lunar 12/25, when he will no longer be in the world. White plums are in blossom this morning, and they were in blossom yesterday morning, and they will be in blossom at dawn for several more weeks because it is now early spring. The faint but clear and sweet fragrance of the new plum blossoms wafts everywhere, and by implication the warblers are surely now calling out in their spring voices that sound to humans as if they were singing "Ho-, Hokekyo," or "Lo-, Lotus Sutra."

The Lotus Sutra mentions Amida Buddha's Pure Land, and the white plum blossoms suggest great purity, so Buson seems to be seeing a vision of himself in the Pure Land even while he is still alive. He has already been in the Pure Land for a few days, or perhaps forever, since the Pure Land is a land of timeless time. Buson was a believer in Hōnen's Pure Land school, and his protege Kitō writes that Buson was so peaceful when death came that he was surely reborn in the Pure Land. The sun setting in the west is a much more common image of the Pure Land, which is said to lie beyond the western edge of the universe, but Buson did not rely on this traditional image. He chose to evoke transcendent purity at dawn, an image of rebirth that perhaps transforms the cold frost image in the previous hokku and endows it with lambent cosmic dimensions.
Chris Drake





. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .


.................................................................................



Here is one more jisei haiku about the moon


月も見て我はこの世をかしく哉
tsuki mo mite ware wa kono yo o kashiku kana

I have even seen the moon -
now I can say good bye
to this world

Kaga no Chiyoni, September 8, 1775



*****************************
Related words

***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　


[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::　

Murou Saisei

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Murou Saisei 室生犀星
(1889 - 1962)

1889年（明治22年）8月1日 - 1962年（昭和37年）3月26日）

室生犀星記念館 Murou Saisei Kinenkan Museum



Muro Saisei ,
one of Kanazawa's three great writers of literature, loved the Saigawa river dearly and wrote many stories about Kanazawa. Located at the site of Saisei's birth, this museum boasts a large collection of his works, his own handwritten manuscripts, and other articles left by him.

source : Murou Saisei Kinenkan Museum


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Saisei Ki 犀星忌 (さいせいき) Saisei Memorial Day


March 26.

. Memorial Days of Famous People
SPRING 　


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


His real name was Murō Terumichi.
Born in 1889, he was given birth by his mother Hal, who was never formally married to his father, Kobata Yozaemon-kichidane, a low-ranked military commander from the Kobata family. Right after his birth, he was adopted by Akai Hatsu, a common-law wife of Muro Shinjo, the chief priest at Uho Temple (真言宗寺院雨宝院). He gained his Muro family name at the age of seven when he was formally adopted by his stepfather.
During his childhood, he was bullied by peers as 'the mistress' child'. At the same time, he craved for a mother he never had.

It was after World War II that Saisei established his status as a novelist, producing many excellent novels. "Anzukko"(Apricot-girl) released in 1958 was a partial autobiography based on his daughter Asako. He won the Yomiuri Prize for this piece. Also in 1958, he received the Mainichi Publishing Culture Prize for his review "The biography of my beloved poet". For his classic based novel "Remenants from the Mayfly's diary" (1959), he received the Noma Literary Prize. In the following year, he created the 'Muro Saisei Poet Prize' from the money he received from the prize. He died of cancer in 1962.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !



Hi no Sakana (火の魚)
is a Japanese novel written by Murō Saisei in 1960. The novel was adapted as a TV drama by NHK Hiroshima in 2009.
The theme of the drama is "the brightness of the life".

The story is about the episodes of a book cover which was made for Murō Saisei’s other novel
"Mitsu no Aware (蜜のあはれ)”
by book designer "Kumiko Tochiori" in 1959.
In the original book, they communicate with letters each other.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


若水や人の声する垣の闇
wakamizu ya hito no koe suru kaki no yami

first water -
the hedge in the dark sounds
like a man's voice

. First Water (wakamizu) 　　




:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::





買初の紅鯛吊す炬燵かな
kaizome no bendai tsurusu kotatsu kana

the first purchase
of a bendai hangs
above the kotatsu . . .

. bendai 紅鯛 "red Tai"
a New Year decoration in Kanazawa


. Kotatsu, heatable table 　


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Japanese Reference

室生犀星


*****************************
Related words

***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ueda Akinari

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ueda Akinari 上田秋成 (1734 - 1809)

Ueda Akinari or Ueda Shūsei (July 25, 1734, Osaka - August 8, 1809, Kyoto)

He is famous for his eerie ghost stories and strange fiction in Japan.



was a Japanese author, scholar, and waka poet, and perhaps the most prominent literary figure in eighteenth century Japan. He was an early writer in the yomihon genre, and his two masterpieces,
Tales of Moonlight and Rain (Ugetsu monogatari 雨月物語 ) and
Tales of Spring Rain (Harusame monogatari 春雨物語), are central to the canon of Japanese literature. Born to an Osaka prostitute and an unknown father, he was adopted in his fourth year by a wealthy merchant who reared him in comfort and provided him with a good education.


.................................................................................




Ugetsu Monogatari 雨月物語



Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain) by Ueda Akinari (1734-1809) was first published in 1776. Comprised of nine independent stories adapted from Chinese ghost stories, Ugetsu Monogatari is noted for its highly allusive and lyrical prose and is considered to be among the most important works of fiction of the eighteenth century, the middle of the Edo period (1603-1868).

Edo literary achievements are normally associated with the fiction of Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693) and drama of Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) in the Genroku period (1688-1704) and the popular literature of Takizawa Bakin (1767-1848) in the later Bunka Bunsei period (1793-1841). Ugetsu Monogatari, then, occupies an important yet often overlooked position between these two moments in Edo literary history.

Read more about him HERE
©　WIKIPEDIA


. Reference : 上田秋成





- quote -
Defining J-horror: Early encounters with the unhuman
by Eugene Thacker
The scene: It’s night; someone is alone in a dimly lit room. There’s an eerie stillness, a creeping anxiety. Then, behind them, you notice a strange shape: a hunched-over figure, lurking in a corner. It is standing deathly still. The head is obscured by what looks like tendrils of jet-black hair. A chill runs down your spine as you suddenly realize the person isn’t alone. There’s something in the room with them, something that shouldn’t be there, something anomalous, incongruous … menacing.

Scenes like this have come to define Japanese horror or “J-horror.” The genre’s ability to evoke the supernatural has made it into a worldwide cultural phenomenon, popularized by the films of Takashi Miike and Hideo Nakata, and also by anime, manga and video games. However, while a great deal of attention has been given to modern J-horror, relatively little has been said about its precursors, especially the literary influences that so deeply inform its aesthetic.

One such influence is the book “Ugetsu Monogatari,” published in 1776 and authored by Ueda Akinari (1734-1809). Conventionally translated as “Tales of Moonlight and Rain,” this collection contains nine tales that all have the hallmarks of classic kaidan (“strange tales”).

Ueda published his book at a time in Japan when kaidan were an immensely popular form of entertainment. Get-togethers known as “hyakumonogatari kaidankai,” or “gathering for telling 100 strange tales,” were not uncommon, and at which such stories were read by candlelight, with one flame extinguished after each successive tale was told. But “Ugetsu” isn’t just fodder for an Edo Period (1603-1868) parlor game, it’s also a “literary” work, containing allusions to more than 100 texts, including Buddhist and Confucian writings, Japanese court poetry, noh dramas, Chinese ghost tales and Japanese classics such as “The Tale of Genji.”

Ueda’s collection is unique because it sets the standard for the Japanese horror story, with its emphasis on atmosphere, mood and a sense of the weird and grotesque. Stories such as “Asaji ga Yado” (“The Reed-Choked House”), “Jasei no In” (“A Serpent’s Lust”) and “Aozukin” (“The Blue Hood”) read like modern horror, containing vengeful spirits, demonic possession, vampirism and the living dead. In each tale, we see fragile and unsuspecting human characters encountering entities that can only be described as unhuman: ghosts, revenants, demons, goblins, shape-shifters, cannibals and lesser-known beasts of folklore and myth. These entities appear against the ongoing human drama of war, desire, madness, disease and faith. Throughout the nine tales, “Ugetsu” returns again and again to a central theme: human beings confronting not only their own mortality but the larger nonhuman world around them.

By today’s standards, Ueda’s stories are not “scary” — but perhaps they are not meant to be. Instead, what they seem to evoke is a strange sense of wonder and dread that has come to define supernatural horror. For example, in one story (in the most recent translation, by Anthony H. Chambers), a traveling monk is visiting a grave site to pay his respects, as night falls: “He continued tirelessly chanting the sutra. How damp with dew his sleeves must have grown! As the sun set, the night was menacing here, deep in the mountains. He was cold with his bed of stone and fallen leaves for nightclothes; his mind clear and body chilled to the bone, he began to sense something bleak and awful. The moon rose, but the thick woods allowed no light to penetrate. In the darkness, his heart grew weary and he began to doze, when a voice called unmistakably. “

In another tale, a young Confucian scholar is thinking of his friend, a samurai, who went on a journey and recently died: “The Milky Way shone faintly; the solitary moon cast its light on him alone; a watchdog’s bark reached him clearly from the distance; and the waves on the shore seemed to crash at his very feet. As the moon set behind the hills and its light faded from the sky, he thought it time to go inside and was about to shut the door behind him when he glimpsed a figure in the shadows, moving toward him with the wind.”

In scenes like these, Ueda describes the creepy allure that one feels just before encountering the supernatural. Instead of focusing on the ghosts or demons themselves, he emphasizes the pervasive mood that surrounds their strange and unnerving presence.

It is in this hallucinatory space that sudden reversals take place: the lover you are embracing turns out to be a decaying corpse; a warmly lit home is revealed to be a dilapidated ruin; and what seems to be a humdrum world of human concerns turns out to be the mere play-thing of malefic deities. In “Ugetsu,” the supernatural is always atmospheric, something palpably felt yet difficult to define.

However, it would be a mistake to simply label Ueda’s stories as “supernatural.” In the Western context, the supernatural tale often presumes a strict boundary between reality and unreality, a boundary that can be transgressed, but only in rare circumstances. By contrast, the stories in “Ugetsu” move effortlessly between the natural and supernatural, giving the sense of a porous membrane between reality and fantasy, or between the normal and the anomalous; the supernatural pervades landscapes, homes, human lives — and even bodies.

What makes “Ugetsu” so compelling today is the way that it describes human beings coming up against a world that is at once palpable and mysterious, a world filled with entities (and nonentities) that lie just beyond the horizon of our comprehension. As Ueda writes in one story, “It can be said that an inability to express even a fragment of one’s thoughts is more moving than the feelings of one skilled with words.”

Perhaps this is why “Ugetsu” has been such an influence on J-horror. Though the genre today is filled with all the debris of 21st-century culture — photos, videos, computers, phones and crowded cities — it still depicts human beings embedded in a strange world. It’s one that not only surrounds us but, in many ways, engulfs us, too.
- source : Japan Times November 2016 -

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


He also wrote under the pseudonyms Wayaku Tarō, Senshi Kijin, and Ueda Muchō.

Akinari eventually attended the Kaitokudō School in Osaka, where literary historians believe he studied the Japanese classics and began writing haiku.

He also turned to writing and publishing collections of poetry in both the waka and haiku forms, but these never approached the success he had achieved with Tales of Moonlight and Rain.

During Akinari's last years, according to Young, “he was noted for being a sulking, self-scorning old man, bitterly sarcastic toward the world and its people, and feeling that the masses were full of lies and immorality.”

Read more HERE
eNotes.com


ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo


For Love of Ghosts



:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


桜さくら散って佳人の夢に入る
sakura sakura chirite kajin no yume ni iru

Cherry bossoms fall
Entering into the dreams
Of lovely women.
Tr. Blake Morgan Young



sakura, sakura!
they fall in the dreams
of sleeping beauty
Tr. Robin Gill


. . . . .

gone are the cherry blossoms
but bloom on beautiful dreamers
again they may go and return
Paraverse by Mariko Shimizu :

This suggests the come and go of cherry blossoms in our physical nature--the world-- and in our mind and dreams--the language.
I've put emphasis on the word "saru" 去る; one of its connotations is that one (thing) is gone but is to return, like four seasons or spring and cherry blossoms in this case.


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


External LINKS

3 manuscripst of the Waseda University archives
source : archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp


*****************************
BACK TO

. Edo no takenoko 江戸の筍 bamboo shoots in Edo .
with a painting and poem

***** . yookai, yōkai 妖怪 Yokai monsters .

***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets

***** . Authors and writers of the Edo period .

- #uedaakinari #akinariueda-
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Sakai Yamei

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

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.


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::




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


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


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

..........................................................................


Reference : 坂井野明


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

. 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 .



*****************************
Related words

***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　


[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::　

Takano Sujuu

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Takano Sujuu (Takano Suju)
高野素十 . (Takano Soju, Takano Sojuu)
October 4. 1893 - 1976
Takano Yoshimi

He was one of the four "S" of the Hototogisu Haiku Group.
He was also a medical doctor.

Sujuu Ki 素十忌 (すじゅうき) Memorial Day for Sujuu

WKD : Memorial Days for Autumn kigo


Born in Ibaraki prefecture, he studied in Niigata and worked in the field of legal medicine. There he met his lifelong haiku companion, Mizuhara Shuuoushi 水原 秋桜子.
In 1923 he joined the haiku group Hototogisu.

He is burried at the temple Shinno-Ji in Chiba prefecture.
千葉県君津市の神野寺


Hatsugarasu 初鴉（はつがらす） (1947)
Seppen 雪片 ( せっぺん ) (1952)


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::




:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

quote
Suju Takano
by Ryu Yotsuya

The poets of Taisho Hototogisu had produced many masterpieces, by resorting to romantic imagination and to the emphatic words. But this tendency had gone to excess and haikus pursuing superficial effects became popular.

At the beginning of the Showa era (1926 ~ 1989), the haikus of the Hototogisu school took a new direction; Kyoshi Takahama, to moderate this excess, started to advocate the necessity of "shasei" (sketching). This meant return to the design of Shiki Masaoka. He insisted that haikus not based on exact observation and precise description do not touch the readers. He invented the expression "kyakkan shasei" (objective sketching) and made it the principle of writing.

Following this new direction, several poets appeared such as Shuoshi Mizuhara (1892 ~ 1981), Suju Takano, Seiho Awano (1899 ~ 1992), Seishi Yamaguchi (1901 ~ 1994), Kusatao Nakamura (1901 ~ 1983). Each poet could create a personal style adapting "kyakkan shasei".

I present here Suju Takano, who left the most remarkable poems.

An important characteristic of his haikus is the description of foreground. Often, his haikus contain only things right before the eyes. This method makes a sharp contrast with that of the Taisho Hototogisu poets who intended to describe the distant view especially.

Shuoshi Mizuhara, opposed to Suju, severely reproached his descriptions of foreground which, Shuoshi said, were no more than monotonous scientific reports. But Shuoshi's criticism does not seem just to me. If we read Suju's haikus attentively, we realize that he keeps unique understanding of the structure of space in his expressions which look like, at first sight, simple explanations of landscape.

Almost all the haikuists regard the works of Suju as results of the "kyakkan shasei". However he was not a realistic artist in the modern sense of words. He respected symbolic nuances that words, especially kigos, contain. He adopted the attitude to project images of things on the screen made of nuances of the words.

Consequently, even if there are descriptions of foreground, Suju's haikus do not throw them into sharp relief; they give an impression that the poet carried his viewpoint far away and that he saw "here" in peace.

Suju's works that use fully the symbolizing function of the Japanese language, is one of the highest peaks of the Hototogisu school.

Read more haiku here:
source : Ryu Yotsuya


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


春塵や観世音寺の観世音
shunjin ya Kannonji no Kanzeon

this spring dust -
the Kannon statue at
temple Kannon-Ji
(this temple is at Dazaifu Town,
Fukuoka Pref. Kyushu)





菊の香や灯もるゝ観世音
kiku no ka ya tomoruru Kanzeon

fragrance of chrysanthemums -
faint light on the Kannon statue


Learn more about this deity, Kannon Bosatsu 観音菩薩 :
Kannon Bosatsu 観音菩薩



:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



冬山の石仏群の崩壊す
fuyuyama no ishibotokegun no hoo kowasu

the landslides
near the group of stone buddhas
in the winter mountains



:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


寒肥や花の少き枇杷の木に
kangoe ya hana no sukunaki hiba no ki ni

fertilizing in the cold -
now for the loquat tree
with the few blossoms

WKD : Farmers work in Winter


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


はじめての町はじめての春夕べ　
hajimete no machi hajimete no haru yuube

first time in town
first time a night
in spring


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



hane watte tentoo mushi no tobi izuru

splitting her wings
the ladybug's
flying begins

source : www.haiku-hia.com



::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Japanese Reference

高野素十


*****************************
Related words

***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Tan Taigi

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Tan Taigi 炭太祇 (たんたいぎ)

(1709 -1771 or ?1738-1791)
宝永6年（1709年） - 明和8年8月9日（1771年9月17日）

He became famous through Masaoka Shiki, who took up his haiku.

Haiku poet of the mid-Edo-period. At the age of 40 he became a priest at the temple Daitoku-Ji 大徳寺 真珠庵 in Kyoto. Later in his life, he stayed in a hermitage called Fuya-An 不夜庵 (Hermitage with no night) in the precincts of the courtesan pleasure quarters Shimabara 島原遊郭 in 1748 and lived as a friend of Yosa Buson. He liked to socialize and drink sake and used to say

When praying to Buddha I write haiku
when praying to the Shinto gods I write haiku.

He also used the haiku names 宮商洞 and 三亭

His haiku collection 太祇句選 and 太祇句選後篇.

Because of his heavy drinking he suffered a brain hemorrhage and died in the Year Meiwa 8. He is burried at the temple Korin-ji in Kyoto.
京都綾小路通り大宮西の光林寺


©　haikuhaikai


. . . CLICK here for Photos !


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


kigo for early autumn

Taigi Ki 太祗忌 (たいぎき) memorial day for Taigi
Fuya An Ki 不夜庵忌（ふやあんき）
memorial day for Fuya-An

明和（めいわ）8年8月9日没
His Death day is August 9 in the Year Meiwa 8.

other sources quote
宝永6年（1709年） - 明和8年8月9日（1771年9月17日）
September 19, 1771



さがり花咲いて太祗忌修しけり
sagaribana saite Taigi-ki shuushikeri

a tropical flower
with hanging blossoms -
memorial day of Taigi

Tansei 丹生
Tr. Gabi Greve


(sagaribana : Barringtonia racemosa, a tropical flower of Okinawa)
. . . CLICK here for Photos of the hanging blossoms !



::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::




太祇馬提灯図
早稲田大学會津八一記念博物館
富岡コレクション

Buson's bond with the poet, Tan Taigi (d. 1771), who taught him spontaneity in verse, is evident in the haiga, Taigi and Buson in a Storm, (1777), a sketch to celebrate their camaraderie on the seventh anniversary of Taigi's demise.
The latter is clinging onto a brolly blown inside out, with one clog flung asunder, while Buson clutches his half-closed one, both weathering the elements.

source : www.asianartnewspaper.com


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



飲きりし旅の日数や香需散
nomikiri shi tabi no hi kazu ya koojusan

many days on the road
with nothing left any more -
my summer medicine


(Tr. Gabi Greve)
Chinese medicine and Haiku


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


草の戸や畳かへたる夏祓
kusa no to ya tatami kaetaru natsu harae

reed door -
tatami mats changed for the
summer purification
(tr. Gabi Greve)

Summer Purification and Haiku




松明に雨乞行やよるの嶺
taimatsu ni amagoi-gyoo ya yoru no mine

rain rituals
in the light of torches -
mountain peaks at night
(Tr. Gabi Greve)





拝すとて烏帽子落すな司めし
haisu tote eboshi otosu na tsukasa meshi

at the audience
don't drop your official hat -
governor's promotion


tsukasameshi 司召 (つかさめし)
governor promotion (in autumn)



御僧のその手嗅（かぎ）たや御身拭
gosoo no sono tekagita ya ominugui

the smell of the hands
of the honorable priests -
cleaning the statue


O-Mi-Nugui 御身拭 cleansing of the Amida statue


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


寒食や竃をめぐるあぶら虫
kanshoku ya kamado o meguru aburamushi

cool food -
cockroaches search
around the hearth

Ritual of eating cold food - kanshoku setsu


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

下手乗せて馬もあそぶや藤の森
gete nosete uma mo asobu ya Fuji no mori

with an unskilled rider
even the horse can have fun -
Fujimori festival

. Fujimori Shrine Festival 藤森祭



. River Horikawa in Kyoto 堀川や .
with a haiku sweet


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


寒月や我ひとり行く橋の音
kangetsu ya ware hitori yuku hashi no oto

in a free rendering this conveyes

moon in the cold -
only my own footsteps
on the bridge


Moon and his KIGO

(hashi no oto ... the sound of a bridge)
Imagine the Edo period, a lone late pedestrian in wooden clogs, which resound on the long wooden bridge.
In longhand, this haiku would read

moon in the cold -
the sound of the bridge
as I walk over it alone



冬の月が冴(ｻ)えわたっている｡その光に照らされて霜の置いた橋の上を一人行く｡下駄(ｹﾞﾀ)の音もまた冴えて耳に響いてくる｡
《季語》 寒月(冬)｡《参考》橋は長い板橋､履物は恐らく下駄であろう｡視覚と聴覚で､寒々として静まり返った冬夜の雰囲気をよく詠みとっている｡〔名句辞典〕

Geta, wooden Japanses sandals Straw sandals (zoori)



lune froide
seul je marche
le bruit du pont

source : Taigi haiku in French by Nekojita


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


月と日は男の手なる夏書かな

. moon and sun
become the hands of man -
copying sutras in summer .



口切のとまり客あり峰の坊

. for the opening of the tea jar
there are visitors over night -
mountain retreat .


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Meditáció:
kövér szúnyogok
lakomája.

source : Tagi Haiku in Hungarian, www.terebess.hu



yamaji kite muko jooka ya tako no kazu

oltre il valico in fondo
una città fortificata,
e stormi di aquiloni

source : Taigi in Italian . alberto cane


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


ochite naku / ko ni koe kawasu / suzume kana

Mit dem Kind, das aus
dem Nest fiel, tauscht sie Tschilpen aus,
die Spatzenmutter!


mizugame e / nezumi no ochi-shi / yosamu kana

In den Wasserkrug
ist eine Maus gefallen
kalt ist schon die Nacht!


bôfuri ya / teru hi ni kawaku / ne-nashi-mizu

Mückenlarven –
in heißer Sonne trocknend
Tümpel ohne Zufluß

source : Ekkehard May . haiku-dhg


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Japanese Reference

炭太 祇


*****************************
Related words

***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　

Memorial Days SAIJIKI

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::