Some Poems by Chiyo-ni (1703-1775)

Chiyo-ni is the name by which posterity knows the eighteenth-century poet Fukuda Chiyo or Kaga no Chiyo; surnames were more mutable in those days. Chiyo is probably the foremost female practitioner of the haiku form, whose work maintains haiku’s traditional strong seasonal focus but shows more of a concern for human affairs than was typical for much of her writing period. Below I have translated seven of her poems on late winter and early spring; I hope to translate more of her oeuvre in the future.

I’m indebted to Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi's work on Chiyo-ni for bringing her to my attention. All of these poems can be found in their writing on her, some with slightly different orthography in the original.

❦

物ぬひや

夢たゝみこむ

師走の夜

My dreams

On a December night

I sew into my mending

❦

行く年や

もどかしきもの

水ばかり

O the passing years—

Troublesome things

Like so much water

❦

吹く風の

はなればなれや

冬木立

The cold wind doth blow

And breaks itself on

The winter treeline

❦

名月や

雪踏み分けて

石の音

Under the full moon

Stone-footsteps

Snow-echoing

❦

一人寝の

さめて霜夜を

さとりけり

Sleeping alone

A chill night of frost

Brings me to—

❦

ころぶ人を

笑ふてころぶ

雪見かな

Going to see the snow

People laugh seeing others fall over

And fall over themselves

❦

世の華を

丸うつゝむや

朧月

How the hazy moon

Wraps itself around

The flower of this world

(In this last poem, might maruu tsutsumu, “wraps around,” imply a pun on utsutsu, “reality” or “consciousness” as opposed to dreaming?)