Basho's Haiku - Year's End

[HaikuCat]

I've been trying to find the original Japanese text for Basho's Haiku below. Does anyone know the original for this Haiku? (The original text does not have to be written in Japanese characters, could be English written -- although if anyone could provide the Japanese character version, that would be great as well. I read Japanese.)

Year's end, all corners of this floating world, swept.

Thank you in advance for your help. :)

[AlanSummers]

Dear new member,

Welcome to The Haiku Foundation forum! ;-)

Apologies for not knowing your name.

Do you have the English-language version translator's name for the one line version you posted?

Year's end, all corners of this floating world, swept.


There is this three line version:

English version by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto:

Year's end,
all corners
of this floating world, swept.

Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter [Paperback]
Lucien Stryk (Translator), Takashi Ikemoto (Translator)
Publisher: Grove Press; 1st edition (January 20, 1995)
ISBN-10: 0802134076
ISBN-13: 978-0802134073
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802134076

The book appears incredibly cheap to purchase!  But do please note review further down.

The U.K. price is a bit more though, but still reasonable, if you are living in the U.K.:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zen-Poetry-Lucien-Stryk/dp/0802134076/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323517738&sr=1-2-fkmr0

Amongst the many fine books on Basho, this is one for your library, and will contain the original Japanese:

Basho and His Interpreters: Selected Hokku with Commentary [Paperback]
Paperback: 468 pages
Publisher: Stanford University Press (May 1, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0804725268
ISBN-13: 978-0804725262
http://www.amazon.com/Basho-His-Interpreters-Selected-Commentary/dp/0804725268/ref=sr_1_26?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323518103&sr=1-26

all my very best,

Alan

I've been trying to find the original Japanese text for Basho's Haiku below. Does anyone know the original for this Haiku? (The original text does not have to be written in Japanese characters, could be English written -- although if anyone could provide the Japanese character version, that would be great as well. I read Japanese.)

Year's end, all corners of this floating world, swept.

Thank you in advance for your help. :)

[HaikuCat]

Dear Alan:

Thank you very much for your speedy and kind response. (I truly appreciate your warm welcome as well! :))

The English-language version I posted was in fact Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto's translation.  It originally was three line, however, when I copied and pasted, it appeared as one line on my post.

As you recommended, I will try to obtain the book by these translators. Hopefully it contains Japanese text. The Amazon's review does not mention whether or not this book (Zen Poetry:Let the Spring Breeze Enter) contains Japanese texts.
(Does anyone know?)

I've been spending some time researching Basho's Haiku, and I came across this one work that's close in meaning to the "Year's end" translation I posted.

なりにけりなりにけりまで年の暮
nari ni keri / nari ni keri made / toshi no kure
http://wikilivres.info/wiki/User:Dmitrismirnov/Sandbox6

- If I translate this to English directly (and without poetic sensitivity - :D), it will be like...

Every single thing
in the whole world
comes to the year's end.

I'm wondering if the Japanese original text for the "Year's end" translation is this one - exquisitely translated by the experts...

"Nari ni keri", however, does not exactly contain the sense of "swept," which seems to me somewhat emphasized in the English translation...

I'm a haiku beginner, and I only have a bare minimum knowledge at the moment.... I look forward to learning more through this forum! 

The other book you recommended: Basho and His Interpreters: Selected Hokku with Commentary certainly looks like a great book. I will definitely check that book!

Thank you.

[AlanSummers]

Hi again! ;-)

Is your name Dmitri?

I don't think the Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto book has Japanese text, but in association with the other book will prove useful.

I tend to think we need as many books on Basho as we can budget for if we want to study his work properly. 

Yes, it's good to have a non-poetic translation alongside a poetic version (can't be a translation literally).

all my best,

Alan

[Larry Bole]

Dear HaikuCat,

Regarding the alleged Basho haiku:

Year's end, all
corners of this
floating world, swept.

--Tr. Stryk, version in On Love and  Barley: Haiku of Basho

I can't find this haiku in Jane Reichhold's Basho: The Complete Haiku, and I don't have Oseko's Basho's Haiku (two volumes) to check for it there. Unfortunately, at least in Stryk's Love and Barley, Stryk doesn't give a bibliography, nor does he cite his Japanese source for the haiku of  Basho that he translates.

Regarding Basho's

nari ni keri nari ni keri made toshi no kure

Reichhold translates this as:

it had to be
it had to be until
the end of the year

Reichhold's translations tend to be rather quirky sometimes, but I don't think 'nari ni keri' is easy to translate. As best as I can determine, 'nari ni keri' is a 'kireji' phrase. It is very unusual to use a kireji phrase twice in the same haiku, and to make it the substance of the haiku.

My attempt to translate it, which of course could be totally off-base, is:

it has become
it has become indeed
the end of the year

About this haiku, Reichhold comments:

1676--New Year. Basho and Yamaguchi Sodo (1642-1716) wrote two one-hundred-link renga, later published as Two Poets in Edo (Edo Ryooginshuu), that clearly show the influence of the Danrin school. The opening verses of both works honor Soin by referencing his name and by displaying the typical Danrin techniques and methods. With this work, BAsho established himself as a strong proponent of the school and hopeful standard-bearer.

I hope some of this may be of help to you.

Larry