Poems of Summer—Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694)

I think many of us know the drill with Bashō at this point, don’t we, readers?

No particular source for this selection, although most of the Japanese orthography is that of the Haiku International Association website.

❦

ほととぎす鳴く鳴く飛ぶぞ忙はし

hototogisu naku naku tobu zo isogawashi

Yack yack yack, how busily the cuckoo flits around!

鳴く naku is “to call,” as an animal, but the reduplication makes it sound a bit like the chatter of a constantly-on-the-go person.

❦

五月雨や桶の輪切る夜の声

samidare ya oke no wa kiruru yoru no koe

A voice in the night! A cooper’s hoop, cracking in monsoon rains.

“Cooper’s hoop” is an inexact rendering, fundamentally for euphony in English; an 桶 oke is more of a tub than a barrel.

❦

湖や暑さを惜しむ雲の峰

mizuumi ya atsusa wo oshimu kumo no mine

The clouded peaks shirk the heat we feel on the muggy lake.

湖 mizuumi just means lake, but it is a compound of words meaning “water” and “sea,” furthering the feeling that this is the dreaded wet heat.

❦

朝露によごれて涼し瓜の泥

asatsuyu ni yogorete suzushi uri no tsuchi

Splattered in morning dew, the coolness of the melon-patch…

The verb 汚れる yogoreru indicates a dirty, indiscriminate splattering, as of mud.

❦

夏の夜や崩て明し冷し物

natsu no yo ya kuzurete akeshi hiyashimono

Summer evening; the leftovers from our cold dinner? The dawn.

I’ve taken somewhat less liberty in the order of the thoughts in this one than in the others.

❦

夏草や兵どもが夢の跡

natsukusa ya tsuwamono-domo ga yume no ato

The summer grasses soldiers’ dreams leave behind…

This is a well-known one from the legendary おくのほそ道 Oku no hosomichi. I was reluctant to touch the conventional translations. I certainly don’t think mine is better than, say, Donald Keene’s.