Ten Free-Verse Haiku
Santoka
silently
I put on
today's straw sandals
damatte kyo no waraji haku
soaked with the morning dew
I go in the direction
where I want
asa tsuyu shittori ikitai ho e iku
no other path
than this path
I walk alone
kono michi shika nai hitori de aruku
the deeper I go
the deeper I go
green mountains
wakeitte mo wakeitte mo aoi yama
walking and begging
humbly I accept
the blazing sun
enten wo itadaite koiaruku
the road running
straight ahead
makes me lonely
massugu na michi de samishii
no more houses
to beg from
clouds on the mountain
mono kou ie mo nakunari yama ni ha kumo
even in
my iron begging bowl
a shower of hail
teppatsu no naka e mo arare
a drink
would be nice now
sunset sky
ippai yaritai yuyake-zora
mountains
I'll never see again
fade in the distance
mata miru koto mo nai yama ga tozakaru
[Santoka]
Taneda Santoka (1882-1940) was born in Hofu in western Japan. After his sake brewery business and marriage both failed, in 1920 Santoka, who already for some time had been interested in Zen Buddhism, started living in a temple and took the tonsure. Santoka has several traumatic experiences in his youth, most of all the suicide of his mother by throwing herself into the family well because of her husband's philandering; the sight of his mother's corpse being raised from her watery grave was something Santoka never could forget. He had begun to write haiku in 1911 and this became the only occupation in which he found a stable interest. As a disciple of the leading haiku reformist Ogiwara Seisensui (1884–1976), his haiku were written in the free form - they were haiku without the fixed 5-7-5 pattern, without the traditional season words and in a language very close to actual spoken Japanese. In 1926 he began the life of a wandering priest and traveled all over Japan for many years, covering thousands of miles. These journeys were a form of religious training and Santoka lived as a begging-priest. His only weakness was his great love for sake. Later, tired of the endless wandering, he set up a hermitage in Ogori, not far from Hofu. Later he moved to Yamaguchi City, and finally set up another hermitage, Isso-an, in Matsuyama on Shikoku Island. He died there in October 1940 at the age of 59. Besides thousands of haiku, he also left several interesting diaries.
The above translations are my own. Santoka's work is in the public domain in Japan.
Studies and translations:
Santoka, Taneda (2003). For All My Walking. Translated by Burton Watson. Columbia University Press.
Sato, Hiroaki (2002). Grass and Tree Cairn. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press.
Stevens, John (1980). Mountain Tasting: Zen Haiku by Santoka Taneda. Weatherhill.
作家別作品リスト：種田 山頭火 e-texts of Santōka's works at Aozora bunko (in Japanese)
Photos:
Santoka: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Japanese Poetry Index