Japanese Literature - Haikus

The haiku is a traditional Japanese verse from expressing a single emotion or idea in which syllables are arranged in a stanza with the meter 5.7.5 syllables. The form emerged in the 17^th century and was developed by a Japanese poet named Matsuo Basho. The British/American author Ezra Pound (and other members of the “imaginist” movement) imitated the haiku for Western readers.

 

Image from Fanpop.Com

 

Haikus

translated by Harold Henderson

 

Haikus by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694),

 

Old pond:

frog—jump—in

water sound

 

Many, many things

they bring to mind—

cherry-blossoms

 

On a withered branch

A crow has settled—

autumn nightfall.

 

The summer grasses grow

Of mighty warriors’ splendid dreams

the afterglow.

 

A lightning-gleam

into darkness travels

a night-heron’s scream.

 

 

Haikus by Tamaguchi Buson (1715-1783)

 

Blossom in the pear

and a woman in the moonlight

reads a letter there.

 

What piercing cold I feel

My dead wife’s come, in our bedroom

under my heel.

 

 

Various haikus

 

No…don’t swat the fly

it's wringing its hands

it’s wringing its feet

–Issa

 

Softly comes the snow

you can’t hear it when it falls

first stop is my nose

–Anonymous

 

My mom makes sweaters

for our groceries and for money

and for my new bike.

–Anonymous

 

Migrating birds

There’s still a war

going on somewhere

–Anonymous

 

The color of sun

it brightens up the whole room

my yellow bedspread

–Anonymous

 

I wonder how far

may he have wandered—this brave

hunter of dragonflies.

–Kaga no Chiyo