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. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .
(1715-1783)
. hatsumono, hatsu-mono 初物 first things - Introduction .
The townspeople of Edo loved their "first things" and spent a lot of money on them!
There are many New and First activities and things throughout the year.
There are 386 kigo starting with 初..., and
119 of them do not relate to the New Year.
There are 93 kigo that end with ...初 and
7 of them do not relate to the New Year.
Some translations are from the friends at this facebook forum:
. Formal Haiku - The Art of 5-7-5 .
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初秋や余所の灯見ゆる宵のほど
hatsuaki ya yoso no hi miyuru yoi no hodo
Early autumn--
Lights of houses are on
Even in a young evening.
Tr. Shoji Kumano
The start of autumn!
Evening is at the point where
other's lights are seen.
All the more expensive hard cover anthologies of the famous haiku writers will include prose versions of the haiku that include everything that the haiku hints at. Kumano's translation is a rendering of the prose piece accompanying this haiku in the Buson anthology I have. I think that writing everything in just kills the poetry in the original.
By making the evening the subject, Buson is able to give us a scene that accurately depicts the falling darkness through time so we can stand and watch the house lights in the houses he looks down upon come on. It catches the mood of the time of year when evening falls earlier and earlier.
Tr. and comment : James Karkoski - facebook
Lights of houses on
even in a young evening—
early autumn’s start
Tr. Bill Dennis - facebook
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初冬や日和になりし京はずれ
hatsufuyu ya hiyori ni narishi kyoo hazure
Winter comes
And with it the weather
Outside of the capital.
Tr. Thomas McAuley
初冬や訪はんと思ふ人来ます
hatsufuyu ya towan to omou hito kimasu
The first of winter--
One I've wanted to visit
Called on me.
Tr. Nelson and Saito
Early winter--
I thought I was going visiting
but the person has come here.
Tr. Sawa and Shiffert
Winter has begun!
The one I was hoping of
visiting does come.
When winter comes people tend to hunker down and stay at home, which can lead into a desire for the company of others. Buson hasn't been able to rouse himself to go visit a person that he wants to see, but now that person has come to visit him.
With an interesting twist, Buson has turned the negative connotations that usually follow the coming of the winter into a positive emotion.
Tr. and comment : James Karkoski - facebook
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初氷何こぼしけん石の間
hatsugoori nani koboshiken ishi no ai
The first ice--
What was spilled
Between the stones?
Tr. Nelson and Saito
The first skim of ice,
there's something that's been spilled on
the shrine's slab walkways.
'Ishi no ma' are the slabs of stones that are laid in as a walkway in the open air courtyard that connects the main hall and the worship hall on the grounds of a large shrine. The courtyard has been iced over, but something has been spread on the smooth walkway slabs to turn the ice on it into slush so people will be able to come and go on it. By wondering about why the walkway is slush, Buson is able to draw a contrast between it and the rest of the courtyard that is still skimmed by a smooth pristine layer of ice.
Tr. Jim Wilson, comment James Karkoski - facebook
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. yamadera no suzuri ni hayashi hatsugoori .
山寺の硯に早し初氷
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初霜や吹き返しある葛の葉に
hatsushimo ya fukikaeshi aru kuzu no ha ni
The year's first frost--
On the kudzu leaves
Flipped over by the wind before.
Tr. Nelson and Saito
First frost of the year!
On the kudzu leaves that are
blown upside over.
The broad kudzu leaves attached to the vine are easily blown around by the wind and Japanese poets have been writing about them for centuries. Bashō wrote a haiku about noticing the frost on the front of the leaves and Buson is noticing it on the leaves that have been turned upside by the wind.
Another example of the different positional kind of perception that Buson was able to look at the world with.
Tr. and comment James Karkoski - facebook
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初霜やわづらふ鶴を遠く見る
hatsushimo ya wazurau tsuru o tooku miru
The year's first frost--
An ailing crane
In the distance seen.
Tr. Nelson and Saito
winter's first frost--
visible in the distance
an ailing crane
Tr. Ueda
the first frost;
seeing a suffering crane
in the distance
Tr. Michael Haldane
The first frost has fallen!
Worn suffering cranes
will be seen from afar.
Cranes are migratory birds that come into Japan from Korea and China at the start of winter. The first frost means the coming of winter, and Buson expects that the weary cranes ending their migration won't be far behind. The Japanese often just use the dictionary form of verbs as the future tense and I think it is clear that Buson is indicating a future action here. It could also be argued here that he might be talking about a habitual action, and so the present tense 'are seen' can be read too. But I think the probability of the cranes always showing up on the first day of frost is an improbable argument.
Tr. and comment : James Karkoski - facebook
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初潮に追はれてのぼる小魚かな
hatsushio ni owarete noboru shoogyo kana
By the first full tide
Pursued Upstream
swim the fries.
Tr. Nelson and Saito
By the high tide
swept away so they swim upstream,
the tiny fish!
Tr. Sawa and Shiffert
Being pursued
by a strong autumn moon tide....
the small fish climb upstream!
Pressed by the strong
autumn moon tide to rise up;
the small fish of the sea!
Hatsushio is the tide that is caused by the full moon that occurs on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar.
By the solar calendar it now occurs in September. Since the moon affects the tides, this very bright moon is considered to cause the strongest tides of the year.
In Japanese, the verb is always at the end of the phrase, and since they also place them together to make compiled verbs, and place them as modifiers in front of nouns, the three verbs Buson stacked together in this haiku make it able to have a double reading.
In the first version, the strong tide that the 15th night moon makes has moved up so far up river that it is forcing the small fish there to flee from it.
The second reading implies that the fish are in the ocean and the tide is making them rise up with it.
I prefer the first reading, my in-laws house is on a quite a distance up a small stream that runs into the sea, so I've experienced how much, and how far, the coming of the tides can affect fresh water levels and water quality.
Tr. and comment : James Karkoski - facebook
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. hatsu yuki no soko o tatakeba take no tsuki .
初雪の底をたたけば竹の月
The first snow
Emptying itself to its last flake--
The moon above bamboo.
Tr. Nelson and Saito
when the first snow
strikes the lowest culms
bamboo moonlight
Tr. Addis
A bamboo moon
Is caressing the round
Of early snow
Tr. ?
The season's first snow,
A few flakes slowly falling --
Bamboo and moonlight.
Tr. Jim Wilson - facebook
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- hatsushigure 初時雨 first winter shower
秋のあはれわすれんとすれば初時雨
aki no aware wasuren to sureba hatsushigure
Autumnal sadness
Just about to forget as I was--
The first winter shower.
Tr. Nelson and Saito
Just when I'd thought
I had forgotten autumn's pathos;
the first rain of winter.
The haiku is pretty explicit and needs no explanation.
It catches the state of mind that happens when the soft thin beginning rains of winter start to wet the brown and desolate landscape that the end of autumn brings. Buson used 19 morae to express sentiment.
Tr. James Karkoski - facebook
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みのむしの得たりかしこし初時雨
minomushi no etari kashikoshi hatsushigure
A bagworm--
Complacent and proud
The first shower in winters.
Tr. Nelson and Saito
Straw raincoat bugs
without any hesitation,
the first rain of winter.
The straw raincoat bugs
have done well for themselves:
the first rain of winter.
Bagworms in Japanese are called 'minomushi' (literally straw raincoat bugs) because they will often camouflage themselves with twigs and leaves that make them look similar to the old style made from straw 'mino' raincoats that were in use before the modernization of Japan.
They are a fall 'kigo' because the males in autumn will seek out the females who never leave their protective 'bags' (or coats) to mate. The female dies and the eggs ride out the winter until hatching in the spring.
The phrase 'etari kashikoshi' (literally 'having obtained wisely') is translated in Japanese to English dictionaries as 'readily, very eagerly, without a moment's hesitation,' but in Japanese dictionaries it is explained as 'when things go the way you thought and and proceed well to satisfaction.'
I like the first version better because I think it brings out the connection between the seeking of the female and the winter rain with a bit more humor. (I have added a syllable in the 2nd line of the first translation, 'a' instead of 'any' just doesn't sound right to me)
Tr. James Karkoski - facebook
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- hatsune 初音 first call of the bush warbler
うぐいすの 枝ふみはずす 初音かな
uguisu no eda fumihazusu hatsune kana
A warbler
Missing its footing on a twig--
Its first song in spring.
Tr. Nelson and Saito
A bush warbler loses
its footing on a branch:
its first sound I hear!!
I live at the foot of a mountain so I often hear the bush warblers when they are around in spring. As the video link below shows, their warbling does have a slippery slope quality to it, which Buson humorously relates to loosing balance while singing. The verb here can also be read as indicating the future, but in this case I don't think it does.
- reference :youtu.be/FhXfQrKvokU -
Tr. James Karkoski - facebook
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うぐひすの 麁相がましき初音哉
uguisu no sosoo ga mashiki hatsune kana
The warbler's
inexperienced simplicity is better
year's first song
Tr. Crowley
The warbler's rough
inattentiveness has increased:
the first songs it sings!
The young warblers initially have trouble making the sounds that has made them the favorite songbirds in Japan. The pitch of the fledglings can be quite wild until they hear enough of the smoother older birds who they start copying.
In Buson's day, the practice of keeping caged warblers in the house was popular and it is most likely that he is writing about a young warbler that he is keeping as a pet. Perhaps, the lack of being around other birds is what is keeping this one from singing sweetly? Having had the experience of hearing a caged warbler sing, I can attest to how much of a force of sound they can generate in an enclosed space.
A young one who is in the stage of practicing must be quite jarring indeed!
Tr. James Karkoski - facebook
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. hatsumono, hatsu-mono 初物 first things - Introduction .
. WKD : Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 - Introduction .
. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .
. BUSON - Cultural Keywords and ABC-List .
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