Book of the Week – The Classic Tradition of Haiku: An Anthology edited by Faubion Bowers
From the back cover: “This unique collection spans over 400 years (1488–1902) of haiku history by the greatest masters: Bashō, Issa, Shiki, and many more, in translations by top-flight scholars in the field. Haiku commands enormous respect in Japan. Now readers of poetry in the West can savor these expressive masterpieces in this treasury compiled by noted writer Faubion Bowers, who provides a Foreword and many informative notes to the poems.”
The Classic Tradition of Haiku: An Anthology was published by Dover Publications, Inc. in 1996.
Here are a few selected poems from the book:
passing through the world
indeed this is just
a shelter from the shower
– (Iio Sōgi, pg. 3, translated by William J. Higginson)—
Islands: shattered into thousands of pieces in the summer sea
– (Matsuo Bashō, pg. 18, translated by Hiroaki Sato)—
My eyes, which had seen all, came back,
back to the white chrysanthemums
– (Kosugi Isshō, pg. 29, translated by Asatarō Miyamori)—
Although I say,
“Come here! Come here!” the fireflies
keep flying away!
– (Uejima Onitsura, pg. 37, translated by Harold Gould Henderson)—
In spirit and in truth
silent prayer … just
the moon on the road
– (Tagami Kikusha-ni, pg. 60, translated by William J. Higginson)
You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library and please share your favorite poem from the book with us.
Do you have a full or chapbook length book published in 2018 or earlier that you would like featured as a Book of the Week? Contact us for details. Haiku featured in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by the THF Digital Librarian Kenneth Pearson and are used with permission.
Comments (1)
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Thanks, Kenneth. There were several I didn’t know, and the translations, the notes and the clear, cogent, and detached foreword contained much of interest.