do not forget that in the thicket are plum blossoms — Bashō tr. Reichhold
忘るなよ薮の中なる梅の花 wasuru-na yo yabu no naka naru ume no hana
忘 wasu(ru): to forget verb stem る ru: classical ending な na: do not (prohibitive imperative) よ yo: emphatic particle, kireji or cutting-word 薮 yabu: thicket, brushwood の no: possessive of, connecting particle 中 naka: middle, inside なる naru: being/existing, attributive form of classical copula 梅 ume: plum / Japanese apricot の no: of 花 hana flower/blossom
forget not! in the middle of the thicket there is plum blossom
Or Reichhold’s translation above.
The verse is in the imperative, not often encountered in classic haiku (we have one in Issa’s “snail: slowly-slowly climb Mount Fuji!” —登れ nobore: imperative form of noboru, to climb). It is an assertive statement. It indubitably goes beyond the everyday context in which it was written (saying farewell to a monk who had been visiting Bashõ). The images become metaphorical, the verse becomes a proverb: “a short, traditional, and pithy saying; a concise sentence, typically metaphorical, stating a general truth or piece of advice.”
do not forget
that in the thicket are
plum blossoms
— Bashō tr. Reichhold
忘るなよ薮の中なる梅の花
wasuru-na yo
yabu no naka naru
ume no hana
忘 wasu(ru): to forget verb stem
る ru: classical ending
な na: do not (prohibitive imperative)
よ yo: emphatic particle, kireji or cutting-word
薮 yabu: thicket, brushwood
の no: possessive of, connecting particle
中 naka: middle, inside
なる naru: being/existing, attributive form of classical copula
梅 ume: plum / Japanese apricot
の no: of
花 hana flower/blossom
forget not!
in the middle of the thicket
there is plum blossom
Or Reichhold’s translation above.
The verse is in the imperative, not often encountered in classic haiku (we have one in Issa’s “snail: slowly-slowly climb Mount Fuji!” —登れ nobore: imperative form of noboru, to climb). It is an assertive statement. It indubitably goes beyond the everyday context in which it was written (saying farewell to a monk who had been visiting Bashõ). The images become metaphorical, the verse becomes a proverb: “a short, traditional, and pithy saying; a concise sentence, typically metaphorical, stating a general truth or piece of advice.”