目には青葉 山ほとゝぎす はつ松魚 me ni wa aoba / yama hototogisu / hatsu-gatsuo — Yamaguchi Sōdō (1642-1716)
目 me eye(s) に ni locative particle, “in / to” は wa subject marker 青 ao (blue-)green: fresh verdant 葉 ba (ha) leaf/leaves 山 yama mountain ほととぎす hototogisu the ‘little cuckoo’, cuculus poliocephalus, with a sweet song, はつ hatsu first, new-season 松魚 gatsuo classic bonito (modern katsuo), skipjack tuna, katsuwonus pelamis hatsu-gatsuo, first bonito the sight of green leaves / a mountain cuckoo / the first bonito
“One of the most famous of all haiku,” comments Faubion Bowers in The Classic Tradition of Haiku: an Anthology. This is a greatly-prized verse, often found in anthologies and scholarly expositions, it appears.
There is no kireji—or cutting-word. Even so, there are three clear, different, elements arranged around semantic cuts when the verse is read or sounded. There’s no connective grammar. Cuts happen in the jump between images. Essentially, parataxis. It has three kigo, one in each line.
And what is going on here? The elements are all harmoniously related. The accumulated meaning as we proceed with the reading, the primary emotional insight, is the glory (glories) of early summer itself, experienced through three different senses: green leaves for the eyes to admire; the sweet and rare song of the little cuckoo for the ears; and the first bonito (which lovers of sashimi prize especially) for the taste of the season.
An inventory of pleasures. Sõdõ was recording what the people of Edo longed for in the fifth month: fresh leaves to look at on a walk to Kamakura, the first cuckoo to hear in the hills, the first bonito to eat at Nihonbashi, where there was a fishmarket (now a businesss and financial area). The verse was originally read in Kamakura — as a performative greeting (cf. David McMurray in “Mixed Language Haiku” (JUXTA 3.1)
a view of greenery a wild cuckoo the first bonito —tr. Edward Seidensticker
Green leaves before my eyes, a cuckoo calling in the hills, the first bonito. — tr. Henderson
Before my eyes, green leaves; the cuckoo in the mountains; the first bonito. —tr. Yasuda
Green leaves for the eyes, the cuckoo in the mountains, the first bonito of the season. —tr. Ueda
Continuing with haiku of three elements:
目には青葉 山ほとゝぎす はつ松魚
me ni wa aoba / yama hototogisu / hatsu-gatsuo
— Yamaguchi Sōdō (1642-1716)
目 me eye(s)
に ni locative particle, “in / to”
は wa subject marker
青 ao (blue-)green: fresh verdant
葉 ba (ha) leaf/leaves
山 yama mountain
ほととぎす hototogisu the ‘little cuckoo’, cuculus poliocephalus, with a sweet song,
はつ hatsu first, new-season
松魚 gatsuo classic bonito (modern katsuo), skipjack tuna, katsuwonus pelamis
hatsu-gatsuo, first bonito
the sight of green leaves / a mountain cuckoo / the first bonito
“One of the most famous of all haiku,” comments Faubion Bowers in The Classic Tradition of Haiku: an Anthology. This is a greatly-prized verse, often found in anthologies and scholarly expositions, it appears.
There is no kireji—or cutting-word. Even so, there are three clear, different, elements arranged around semantic cuts when the verse is read or sounded. There’s no connective grammar. Cuts happen in the jump between images. Essentially, parataxis. It has three kigo, one in each line.
And what is going on here? The elements are all harmoniously related. The accumulated meaning as we proceed with the reading, the primary emotional insight, is the glory (glories) of early summer itself, experienced through three different senses: green leaves for the eyes to admire; the sweet and rare song of the little cuckoo for the ears; and the first bonito (which lovers of sashimi prize especially) for the taste of the season.
An inventory of pleasures. Sõdõ was recording what the people of Edo longed for in the fifth month: fresh leaves to look at on a walk to Kamakura, the first cuckoo to hear in the hills, the first bonito to eat at Nihonbashi, where there was a fishmarket (now a businesss and financial area). The verse was originally read in Kamakura — as a performative greeting (cf. David McMurray in “Mixed Language Haiku” (JUXTA 3.1)
a view of greenery
a wild cuckoo
the first bonito
—tr. Edward Seidensticker
Green leaves before my eyes,
a cuckoo calling in the hills,
the first bonito.
— tr. Henderson
Before my eyes, green leaves;
the cuckoo in the mountains;
the first bonito.
—tr. Yasuda
Green leaves for the eyes,
the cuckoo in the mountains,
the first bonito of the season.
—tr. Ueda