H  A  I  K  U     S  P  I  R  I  T
Japanese Haiku 2001


FROM:
JAPANESE HAIKU 2001
Published and edited by the MODERN HAIKU ASSOCIATION (GENDAI HAIKU KYOKAI)
Translations by Eric Selland, Philip Zitowitz and Martin Lucas
IMPORTANT






Aro Usuda
(1879-1951)

 

 

Oh, a cuckoo -
how far should I walk
until I meet somebody

 

 

Into the shrieking north wind
a hawk flies
aiming for Mount Fuji

 

 

On the tip of a branch
hangs the setting sun
- autumn wind

 

 

Growing dark as usual
from the depth of a snowstorm
a huge solar disk

 

 

 

Santoka Taneda
(1882-1940)

 

 

I disappear into the winter rain

 

 

Hailstones
Into my iron bowl for alms

 

 

Other haiku by Santoka Taneda

 

 

Hosai Ozaki
(1885-1926)

 

 

Even when I cough
alone

 

 

I walk round
to the back of the gravestone

 

 

Other haiku by Hosai Ozaki

 

 

Hisajo Sugita

(1890-1946)

 

 

Let my best kimono fall
around my feet
colorful cords in a tangle

 

 

Echoing -
A mountain cuckoo has
its own way

 

 

Shuoshi Mizuhara
(1892-1981)

 

 

Carp in midwinter
keeping still
their fins drooping

 

 

Suju Takano
(1893-1976)

 

 

From the eaves
of the abbot's chamber
flutters a spring butterfly

 

 

In the sky flying in one cloud
cherry blossoms

 

 

Issekiro Kuribayashi
(1894-1961)

 

 

A cannon's muzzle
pointed at me
from the New Year's newspaper

 

 

Summer grasses
after the war
kitchen fires burn

 

 

Takako Hashimoto
(1899-1963)

 

 

Lightning
from the north
so I gaze toward the north

 

 

Seiho Awano
(1899-1992)

 

 

Mountain after mountain
wild cherry blossoms
after wild cherry blossoms

 

 

A forest fire
as in my long-ago dream

 

 

Hakko Yokoyama

 

 

Evening -
breaking off some cherry blossoms
she shows her white throat

 

 

Butterflies flutter
while I talk
with the dead

 

 

Koi Nagata
(1900-1997)

 

 

A young boy -
like spring
after sixty years

 

 

Other haiku by Koi Nagata

 

 

Sanki Saito
(1900-1962)

 

 

In Hiroshima
my mouth opens
when I eat a n egg

 

 

Sojo Hino
(1901-1956)

 

 

The morning glory droops
its desire fulfilled

 

 

A sleepy kitten
picked up by the scruff
sleeps on

 

 

Kusatao Nakamura
(1901-1983)

 

 

Water in winter
reflecting the tiniest twig

 

 

Fujio Akimoto
(1901-1977)

 

 

As I slapped my child
the moment lasted forever
cicadas were singing in the heaven

 

 

Seishi Yamaguchi
(1901-1994)

 

 

Winter winds
blow into the sea
no way to come home

 

 

Stars on a desolate field
moved
to the ocean

 

 

Other haiku by Seishi Yamaguchi

 

 

Kakio Tomizawa
(1902-1962)

 

 

Only two blades of grass growing:
time -

 

 

Kanseki Hashi
(1903-1992)

 

 

When fire is appraoching
how quiet are
withered grasses

 

 

Mudo Hashimoto
(1903-1974)

 

 

Troops for Mandchuria packed in
the freight train lurches forward

 

 

I move
and
feel cold

 

 

Life without war comes
summer festival

 

 

Tatsuko Hoshino
(1903-1984)

 

 

Spring thunder -
the moment comes and leaves
far, far away

 

 

A bonfire
in the morning
as if finding happiness

 

 

Shuson Kato
(1905-1993)

 

 

Whenever larches awake
snow is falling

 

 

In the fire
watching a peony crumble

 

 

Open mouths
in the A-bomb panorama
my open mouth - the chill

 

 

A bright-eyed pheasant
sold

 

 

Other haiku by Shuson Kato

 

 

Seito Hirahata
(1905-1997)

 

 

Stepped on an Alaskan glacier
with dirty shoes

 

 

Nanso Uchida
(1906- )

 

 

The sea is deep blue
wouldn't mind being shot
in the back




 

 
 

 

Hosaku Shinohara
(1906-1936)

 

 

Ant! After climbing up
to the top of the rose
the sun is still a long way off

 

 

Ayako Hosomi
(1907-1997)

 

 

Swallow - swallow
a bird that likes mud

 

 

Escargot
small as peas
each moving its tentacles

 

 

Atsushi Azumi
(1907-1988)

 

 

A lamp sller
lights a lamp
on a foggy night

 

 

Sayu Togo
(1908-1991)

 

 

Chief justice
the beach disappeared
so the shellfish did, too

 

 

Takeo Nakajima
(1908-1988)

 

 

Becoming a trout
dawn
becoming transparent water

 

 

Tatsunoke Ishibashi
(1909-1948)

 

 

Night-school student!
have you no hat
but a soldier's hat

 

 

Keiro Ishikawa
(1909-1975)

 

 

So cold
I laughed
my wife laughed, too

 

 

The sound of bamboo
shedding its skin
releases sparrows

 

 

Soshu Takaya
(1910-1999)

 

 

In my head
a white summer field

 

 

Falling cherry blossoms
as the sea is so blue
fall onto the sea

 

 

Akira Mitani
(1911-1978)

 

 

Sea lice
live without shadows
die without shadows

 

 

Hakyo Ishida
(1913-1969)

 

 

picking out
the most beautiful rose,
spring thunder

 

 

Time
beyond the deep blue
of a morning glory

 

 

Hakusen Watanabe
(1913-1969)

 

 

Street lamps
for collecting moisture in the night fog

 

 

The summer sea
one sailor lost

 

 

Sonoko Nakamura
(1913- )

 

 

Yesterday
I became a tree
standing on a spring hill

 

 

Kihachi Wachi
(1913- )

 

 

Good be the world
I warm my sleeping child's feet

 

 

Taiho Furusawa
(1913-2000)

 

 

Saw a Russian film -
so fat
a winter carrot

 

 

Hiryoshi Tagawa
(1914-1999)

 

 

When weak
I'm at my strongest
I buy some violets

 

 

Covered with snow
no footsteps heard
on the red bridge

 

 

Nobuko Katsura
(1914- )

 

 

I'm here
where I was yesterday
the first sunrise of the year

 

 

Ashio Hori
(1916-1993)

 

 

A deer is lonely
wherever he stands
holding the sun on his antlers

 

 

Pulling my child
by the hand
I carry potatoes



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