As the whale dives
its tail gets taller!
—Yosa Buson,
While tilling the field
the motionless cloud
vanished.
—Yosa Buson,
Dew-damp grass:
the setting sun’s tears
—Yosa Buson,
The dew-damp grass
weeps silently
in the setting sun
—Yosa Buson,
White plum blossoms —
though the hour grows late,
a glimpse of dawn
—Yosa Buson,
In the deepening night
I saw by the light
of the white plum blossoms
—Yosa Buson,
Silently observing
the bottomless mountain lake:
water lilies
—Inahata Teiko,
Cranes
flapping ceaselessly
test the sky's upper limits
—Inahata Teiko,
Falling snowflakes'
glitter
tinsels the sea
—Inahata Teiko,
Blizzards here on earth,
blizzards of stars
in the sky
—Inahata Teiko,
Completely encircled
in emerald:
the glittering swamp!
—Inahata Teiko,
The new calendar:
as if tomorrow
can be predicted
—Inahata Teiko,
Ah butterfly,
what dreams do you ply
with your beautiful wings?
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
To listen, fine ...
fine also not to echo,
nightingale.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
My little dragonfly hunter:
how far away has he wandered
I wonder?
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Rising, I see,
and reclining I see
the web of the mosquito netting ...
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
No more
fixing my hair,
merely warming my hands by the fire ...
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Leaves
like crows’ shadows
flirt with a lonely moon.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
The moon settled
in a flower-strewn stream
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
My elderly parents
become my children:
strident cicadas
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Illuminating
my fishing line:
the midsummer moon.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Auspicious straw!
Even the compost
looks glorious!
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Whatever ...
Leave it to the weather:
withered pampas grass.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Heat waves shimmering
above the wettened rock ...
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
The moon:
a morning blur
amid cherry blossoms
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Loneliness
abides within the listener:
the cuckoo’s call
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Skylark,
what do you make
of the trackless sky?
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
The harvest moon
illuminates these snowdrifts
I trample.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Along her path
butterflies flit,
front and back
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Whirling its wings
the butterfly
creates its own wind ...
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
The waterweed
washes away
unaware of the butterfly’s weight
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Now and then
a dandelion intrudes
on a butterfly’s dreams
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Sometimes a butterfly
emerges from the mist ...
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
With the waning moon
silence enters the heart.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
We stoop to pick up ebb-tide pebbles.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Ebb-tide:
everything we stoop to collect
slips through our fingers ...
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni
To entangle
or unentangle the willow
is the wind’s will.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Having seen the moon
I can bid Earth
farewell ...
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
strangers meet on a bridge
late at night.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Also a poet arranging words
with its airy wings—
the butterfly.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
It’s child’s play for the cranes
circling the clouds
to celebrate the year’s first sunrise
Cicadas chirp
oblivious to death.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni,
Spring
stirs the clouds
in the sky's teabowl
—Kikusha-ni, loose translation by Michael R. Burch
It fills me with anger,
this moon; it fills me
and makes me whole
—Takeshita Shizunojo
Pale mountain sky:
cherry petals play
as they tumble earthward
—Kusama Tokihiko,
The frozen moon,
the frozen lake:
two oval mirrors reflecting each other.
—Hashimoto Takako,
The bitter winter wind
ends here
with the frozen sea
—Ikenishi Gonsui,
Bitter winter wind,
why bellow so
when there's no leaves to blow?
—Natsume Soseki,
The lamp extinguished,
once-distant stars
enter my window.
—Natsume Soseki,
Winter waves
roil
their own shadows
—Tominaga Fûsei,
No sky,
no land:
just snow eternally falling ...
—Kajiwara Hashin,
Stillness:
a single chestnut leaf glides
on brilliant water
—Ryuin,
The moon
hovering above the snow-capped mountains
rained down hailstones
—Sekitei Hara,
Oh, dreamlike winter butterfly:
a puff of white snow
cresting mountains
—Kakio Tomizawa,
Spring snow
cascades over fences
in white waves
—Suju Takano,
