.jpg)
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
Our journey along the poetry of the ''big-five'' has started and after a haiku by Basho and Chiyo-Ni, I love to share a haiku by Yosa Buson. Buson was inspired by the work of Basho and he (Buson) didn't create an own style, as Basho and Issa did,. Next to being a haiku-poet Buson was also a great painter. For example: Buson has illustrated one of the first printed haibun of Basho ''Oku-No-Hosomichi'' or ''The Narrow Road Into The Deep North''. So in a way Buson and Basho are connected.
The haiku which I love to share here is possibly one of those verses which Buson composed through his imagination, not as the result of an experience. Buson is thinking of the water running over a ford. He sees clearly the whorl of fine sand and muddy water that rises and swirls away where something has disturbed the bed of the stream. What should have disturbed it that is in harmony with the water of spring? He thinks of the soft and weary feet of a woman traveller who is fording the stream. These are in deep accord with the spring, its gentle warmth and unintellectual activity; with the water, the female element of nature, with the turbidity of it.
ashiyowa no watarite nigoru haru no mizu
wading through it,
her feet muddied
the spring water
© Buson
 |
| Credits: The Spring Water |
And this is my attempt to compose a haiku in that same tone, sense and spirit as the one by Buson:
her soft feet
I feel close to mine -
spring rain
© Chèvrefeuille
Another attempt which came in mind is the following:
mountain stream
whispers through the valley -
winter has gone
© Chèvrefeuille
That last one is my favorite ... it's more in the same spirit as the one by Buson I think, but that second is also more spiritual ...
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 6th at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, our first haiku by Kobayashi Issa, later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your inspired haiku with us all.
!! I have launched a new Special feature at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Special ... visit it and try ... !!
Hi Kristjaan,
ReplyDeleteCould you tell us who the English-langauge translator of this poem is?
wading through it,
her feet muddied
the spring water
Both the English and the Romanised Japanese would have been created by other people as Buson wrote neither.
BTW I love your haiku:
her soft feet
I feel close to mine -
spring rain
© Chèvrefeuille
Brilliant!
warm regards,
Alan
http://area17.blogspot.com
This translation is R.H.Blyth and it's from his 2nd Volume of four about Haiku published by The Hokuseido Press Tokyo. So as far as I know it's a haiku by Buson ...
ReplyDeleteBy the way ... you can find this haiku on page 448 (R.H. Blyth Vol.2 Haiku Spring)
DeleteThanks for the source Kristjaan. :-)
ReplyDeleteBuson was pre-haiku, so it's either a hokku or another haikai verse. He would only have written in Japanese, possibly old Yamato?
So the English version is R.H. Blyth's copyrighted version i.e.
wading through it,
her feet muddied
the spring water
Buson translation© R.H.Blyth
Alas I haven't found an online recording of the Japanese haikai verse by Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 (1715-1783).
Many thanks for your response.
Alan
http://area17.blogspot.com
www.withwords.org.uk
Your haiku 'mountain stream' has utmost clarity. I am not sure if it is my personal favourite or not, but this is objectively the VERY BEST haiku I have ever seen of yours. It is absolute crystal perfection. PLEASE use it somewhere in Carpe Diem again, or let me refer to it in a ghostwriter series! There is almost a sadness in the realisation that a haiku comes no better than that...but perhaps we can still try!
ReplyDeleteits been a little more than a week i last tried... went for a holiday... hope you like it... it is such a fresh topic for the summer!!
ReplyDeleteA lovely prompt which I enjoyed very much and your haiku was exquisite!
ReplyDelete