March 16, 2024

Basho - Bamboo under snow - Complete Haiku (3), 1666-B

  1666 (Kanbun 6), 23 years old


(14)

separated on Tanabata: love rained off

tanabata no awanu kokoro ya uchuten

七夕のあはぬこころや雨中天

Tanabata is the annual Star Festival held on July 7 when the Cowherd Star (Hikoboshi) and the Weaver Star (Orihime) can meet for just once a year. The hokku again contains a rather forced pun: Basho coins the neologism "uchuten", "in a rainy sky" as an antonym to the expression "uchoten" which is still used in modern Japanese, in the meaning of "rapture, exultation." The rain prevents both stars from meeting, and therefore their exultation is turned into sadness under the rainy sky.

The season is autumn (kigo: tanabata).


(15)

shine brightly, and the capital is mine: today's moon reigns

tanda sume sumeba miyako zo kyo no tsuki

たんだすめ住めば都ぞけふの月

A very complex and artificial hokku on the moon festival. The general meaning is "when I see the harvest moon clearly, the place where I live will be like the capital (Kyoto)." This plays with the proverb (still heard today): "sumeba miyako", "there is no place like home". But "sumeba" not only is "when I live", it can also mean "when it is clear (said of the moon or a stream)." And "kyo" is both "Kyoto" and "today." 

The season is autumn (kigo: kyo no tsuki).

 

(16)

does it mirror Princess Shine-Below? the moon's countenance

kage wa ame no shita teru hime ka tsuki no kao

影は天の下てる姫か月のかほ

Princess Shine Below or Shitateru-hime is a figure from Japanese mythology, who in the Kana Preface to the Kokinshu is mentioned as the ancestress of waka poets. "Kage" here is the same as "omokage," image". This is another moon poem, one in which the moon is compared to Shitateru-hime.

The season is autumn (kigo: tsuki).


(17)

the reed's voice, akin to autumn wind passing mouth to mouth

ogi no koe koya akikaze no kuchi-utsushi

荻の声こや秋風の口うつし

"Kuchi-utsushi" is "copy" or "mimicry," but written differently can also be "to transfer from one mouth to another," - so this, too, is a pun. It is also the haikai element in this poem.

The season is autumn (kigo: ogi).


(18)

reclining bush-clover: her flowery face, so impolite

netaru hagi ya yogan-burei hana no kao

寝たる萩や容顔無礼花の顔



Bush-clover or Japanese clover (Lespedeza) is a legume that is popular as an ornamental plant. In September it bears small purple or white flowers. In Basho's haiku it is comically personified. Of course there is a pun too: "yogan-burei," "impolite-looking" puns on "yogan-birei," "good-looking."

The season is autumn (kigo: hagi).


(19)

the moon's clear mirror in Indian summer: a feast for the eyes

tsuki no kagami koharu ni miru ya me-shogatsu

月の鏡小春にみるや目正月

The haikai element is in the combination of "Indian summer" (koharu, in October) with The New Year (shogatsu). "Me-shogatsu" is also "to enjoy watching something beautiful." "Kagami" (mirror) and "miru" (to see) are so-called associated words, engo, a device one often finds in waka poetry.

The season is winter (kigo: koharu).


(20)

vexed by winter showers, pines adorned with snow

shigure wo ya modokashite-garite matsu no yuki

時雨をやもどかしがりて松の雪

The general meaning is based on the (mistaken) belief that winter showers (shigure) change the color of green foliage to red or yellow. Therefore, the evergreen pines which are left out feel annoyed with those showers for their partiality. So they wait impatiently until they, too, will receive their decorative costume - consisting of snow. This is a humorous personification of the pine trees.

The season is winter (kigo: yuki)

(21)

bamboo under snow, the world turned upside down

shiorefusu ya yo wa sakisama no yuki no take

しほれふすや世はさかさまの雪の竹

This poem carries the headnote "Composed at the place of someone whose child had died." In the No Play "Take no yuki," "Snow on the Bamboos," a mother laments that her son is frozen to death in the snow under a bamboo. A child's death before the parent is not in order, but "the world turned on its head."

"Yo" is "world," as in the common expression "yo wa sakasama" (the world is upside down), but also the node of a bamboo. So both the world and the bamboo nodes are upside down - in the case of the bamboo nodes because the bamboo is drooping down. This is again an intricate word game, but it has also been called a skillful poem of condolence.

The season is winter (kigo: yuki)

(22)

hail mixed with large snowflakes: intricate tapestry!

arare majiru katabira-yuki wa komon kana

霰まじる帷子雪は小紋かな


[Edo-Komon]

"Komon" is a fine pattern, or a kimono made from such cloth. The pattern is so fine that from a distance it almost looks like a solid color.

"Katabira" is an unlined summer kimono, and "katabira-yuki" is "large, flat snowflakes" - so again a word game.

The season is winter (kigo: katabirayuki, arare)


(23)

blooming despite frostbite: a mournful flower field

shimogare ni saku wa shinki no hanano kana

霜枯に咲くは辛気の花野哉

This looks like a straightforward hokku, but there is a quotation hidden from a popular song (a ryutatsu-bushi): "The melancholy flowers bloom every night". And it is of course a case of personification.

The season is winter (kigo: shimogare)


Basho Complete Haiku