In this column you will find haiku of masters like Matsuo Basho, Kobayashi Issa, Yusa Buson and others to help inspire you. Look at their haiku closely and try to understand what they are doing linguistically and how that is translating to the experience we revel in after reading them.
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🐌 Overhearing Issa’s Conversations With Creatures 🌌
from the tea water
flume also comes…
a firefly– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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🏞️ Seeking Bashō Along Sumida River 🍃
how touching
to exist after the storm
chrysanthemum– Matsuo Bashō
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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🐌 Overhearing Issa’s Conversations With Creatures 🌌
chasing flies
is a two-person job…
widow– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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🏞️ Seeking Bashō Along Sumida River 🍃
plum scent
suddenly the sun comes out
on a mountain road– Matsuo Bashō
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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🐌 Overhearing Issa’s Conversations With Creatures 🌌
night fishing–
the pleading
of a katydid– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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🏞️ Seeking Bashō Along Sumida River 🍃
exciting
but sad when it is over
cormorant boats– Matsuo Bashō
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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🐌 Overhearing Issa’s Conversations With Creatures 🌌
hey butterfly
move aside!
bath water’s splashing– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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🏞️ Seeking Bashō Along Sumida River 🍃
both weary
taking lodging at the same time
wisteria flowers– Matsuo Bashō
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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🐌 Overhearing Issa’s Conversations With Creatures 🌌
the trout too
hit their peak young…
Yoshino River– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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🏞️ Seeking Bashō Along Sumida River 🍃
tofu pulp
without a mother in the house
so dreary– Matsuo Bashō
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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🐌 Overhearing Issa’s Conversations With Creatures 🌌
what are you eating
to make such a noise!
cuckoo– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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🏞️ Seeking Bashō Along Sumida River 🍃
perhaps i’ll be one
of those happy people
old at the year’s end– Matsuo Bashō
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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🐌 Overhearing Issa’s Conversations With Creatures 🌌
knowing no parent
the fly clings piggy-back
to me– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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🏞️ Seeking Bashō Along Sumida River 🍃
the oak tree
pays no attention to flowers
a pose– Matsuo Bashō
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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🐌 Overhearing Issa’s Conversations With Creatures 🌌
spring breeze–
three ride the same horse
home– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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🏞️ Seeking Bashō Along Sumida River 🍃
winter confinement
again i’ll lean on
this post– Matsuo Bashō
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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🐌 Overhearing Issa’s Conversations With Creatures 🌌
the ants’ road
from peaks of clouds
to here– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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🏞️ Seeking Bashō Along Sumida River 🍃
a Fuji wind
placed here on a fan
a souvenir of Tokyo– Matsuo Bashō
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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🐌 Overhearing Issa’s Conversations With Creatures 🌌
they cry to each other
across a river
deer in love– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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🏞️ Seeking Bashō Along Sumida River 🍃
July
ordinarily the sixth night
is not like this– Matsuo Bashō
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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