Haiku of Jack Kerouac(1)

(photo) The man who is waiting for passing trains on the overpass all afternoon

The clouds are
following each other
into Eternity

雲は
追いつ追われつ
永遠へ

■This haiku sounds to me to have a typical Western thought, using the phrase " into Eternity." I think one of the charms of this work is to express clouds dynamically.

Sound and Vision
Meredith Monk - Gotham Lullaby [experimental / contemporary]

Haiku of Richard Wright(68)

(photo) the mountaintop

That road is empty,
The one leading into hills
In autumn twilight.


その道は行く人なく
一本道の丘また丘
秋の暮


（Housai）
道いつぱいになつて来る牛と出逢つた

Cows coming to me,
Filling the road.

■Wright's haiku reminds me one of Basho:

The road -
Empty and
Autumn twilight.

I imagine a scene that hills ranges over there. I'm attracted to the silence in this haiku. Hohsai's haiku is full of cows. It's humorous.

Haiku of Richard Wright(67)

(photo) walking

A long autumn day:
A wind blowing from the west,
But none from the east.

長き秋の日
西から一陣の風
東からはなにも


（Hohsai）
秋日さす石の上に脊の児を下ろす

On the stone in the autumn sunshine
I put the child
From my back.

■I'm interested in " A long autunm day," because an autumn day in Japan is very short. The rhythm is impressed that " A wind blowing from the west, But none from the east" has. I think Hohsai's haiku has affection for the child. It seems to me that it was in a cold autumn day that he created the haiku.

Haiku of Richard Wright(66)

(photo) autumn leaves

From the scarecrow's sleeve
A tiny green leaf unfolds
On an oaken arm.

案山子の袖
そのオークの腕に
青い葉が一枚生えている

（Hohsai）
案山子の顔をこう書いてやらう

Let's make
The face of the scarecrow
Like this.

■Wright and Hohsai have good sense of humour. In particular, Wright finds humour in the scarecrow itself. I'm very impressed by his oaken scarecrow.

Haiku of Richard Wright(65)

(Photo) a laughing woman

Like a fishhook,
The sunflower's long shadow
Hoves in the lake.

釣竿のように
向日葵の長い影が
湖に伸びる

（Hohsai）
静かなるかげを動かし客に茶をつぐ

Moving calm shadow,
I pour the tea
For my visitor.


■Wright described " a fishhook," not " a fishing rod." It is inexplicable to me because a fishhook cannot make long shadow. But I think he successfully expressed the silence of the lake in a summer afternoon. On the other hand, Hohsai's calm shadow is moving. I'm interested in the state of his shadow.

Haiku of Richard Wright（64）

(photo) a well-brought-up cat

The cat's shining eyes
Are remarkably blue
Beside the jonquils.

猫の光る眼は
びっくりするほど青い
黄水仙のかたはら


（放哉）
どろぼう猫の眼と睨みあつてる自分であつた
the eyes of
the thief-cat
I glared at each other.

■Wright's expressions " remarkably blue" and " beside the jonquils" are impressive to me. There is contrast between blue and yellow. In Hohsai's haiku Hohsai himself comes. It's humorous.

Haiku of Richard Wright(63)

(photo) confederate rose

Dewdrop joins dewdrop
Till a petal holds a pool
Reflecting its rose.

露に露がうち重なって
花びらに水玉
その薔薇が映るまで

（放哉）
便所の落書が秋となり居る
The graffiti on the wall
Of the toilet
Going into autumn.

■Wright's haiku is beautiful. Everybody has seen this scene somewhere, and could easily image this pond on a petal. However can it reflect its rose? What was reflected might be the colour of it, not its shape. On the other hand, Hohsai felt an autumn flavor in the graffiti on the wall of his toilet. This graffiti has something different from yesterday's owing to the changing sunlight and atmosphere. Once I read it, I was deeply impressed.

Haiku of Richard Wright(62)

(photo) her mobile phone

Naked to the sky,
A village without a name
In the setting sun.

空はお見とおし
名もない村が
落日の中

（放哉）
夕日の中へ力いつぱい馬を追ひかける
I chase a horse
As fast as I can
In the setting sun.

■What attracted me most to the Wright's haiku is the phrase" Naked to the sky." The sky knows everything happening in the village during the day. The village is soon in the setting sun. And in it you chase a horse as fast as you can. "as fast as I can" is beautiful.

Haiku of Richard Wright(61)

(photo)The Great Buddha in Kamakura


The day is so long
That even noisy sparrows
Fall stragely silent.

日が永い
にぎやかな雀たちも
めずらしく静まり返っている

（放哉）
鳩がなくまの昼の屋根が重たい
I feel the roof in the noon heavy
In a while
For doves to pause to sing.

■I'm impressed by both these works because they express silence by common birds. I think Wright's haiku is about in the summer solstice and Hohsai's has a languid atmosphere in late spring. I'm interested in that they express silence in their scene by common birds' silence.

Haiku of Richard Wright(60)

(photo) summer boys

Sun is glinting on
A washerwoman's black arms
In cold creek water.

太陽がキラッと光る
洗濯女の黒い腕で
冷たい小川の中


（放哉）
血がにじむ手で泳ぎ出た草原

Swimming out of the grass
―　My bloody arms.

■Wright's haiku cannot get out of a common-sense world. I have examined his 60 haiku, and I found out he didn't have so many fine haiku. From now on, after I preselect his good haiku, I'll examine it. In the case of Hohsai, I have preselected his interesting haiku. It's natural I tend to appreciate his haiku.

Haiku of Ricard Wright(59)

（photo)summer festival

Gusty autumn rain
Swinging a yellow lantern
Over wet catttle.

突然の激しい秋雨が
黄色いランタンを揺らしている
濡れた牛の上

（放哉）
いつ迄も忘れられた儘で黒い蝙蝠傘

A black umbrella-
Having been abandoned
For a long time.

■Wright's haiku has a beautiful scene, but it is common as a haiku work. On the other hand, Hohsai's haiku can make us feel the shadow of rain by showing an abandoned black umbrella.

Haiku of Richard Wright(58)

(photo)three girls



Heaps of black cherries
Glittering with drops of rain
in the evening sun.


一山のブラックチェリーが
雨に濡れて輝く
夕陽の中


（放哉）
友の夏帽が新らしい海に行かうか

My friend's summer hat
is new-
Shall we go to the sea?

■Right's haiku is too beautiful for me to find amusement in it. If the haiku was written as a part of a longer poem, such as that of Trakl, I could take it more natural. From the pont of view, though Wright's haiku seems to be completed, I think there is something missing. On the other hand, Hohsai's haiku has completed poesy. His haiku doesn't need any more words.

Poem

(Photo)Untitled

Slightly

I imagine time for no one
That vanishes in rain,
And that appears when wisteria flowers swing slightly.
It doesn’t have any history,
Any result, any function, and any space.
It is outside meanings.

I think I know
Time for no one is
One for Creator’s laughing.
We could hear it for just a moment.
And we could see it,
If a frog found out himself.
But no one has had that time yet
Without those who have lived against history.

I have been no one for time
For a long, long time.

Haiku of Richard Wright(57)

(photo) Even a cat in Japan looks Japanese.

Sleety rain at night
Seasoning swelling turnips
With a tangy taste.

夜の霙雨
畑の蕪を
辛くする


（放哉）
夜の木の肌に手を添へて待つ

I'm waiting,
Holding my hand to the surface
Of the night tree.

■Wright's haiku has some kind of sense of living, because his motive is swelling turnips. I feel HAIMI in his work which is the sense of human living and one of important factors in haiku. On the other hand, Hohsai's haiku has some kind of poetry. I feel he is not waiting for someone or something, but for himself.

Haiku of Richard Wright(56)

(photo)hollyhock blossoms

The cool green melon
Made me trace my forefinger
Along its whole length.


冷えた青いメロン
人差し指で
ひとまわりなぞってみた


（放哉）
大空のました帽子かぶらず

Just under the blue sky
I don't need
a hat.

■Nature causes both Wright and Hohsai to act. Wright traces his forefinger along a melon's whole length. Hohsai stops wearing his hat. I feel that Wright has some kind of desire and Hohsai doesn't have one. Hohsai also made the following work:
The way water flows
In the night
When murder has been committed.

This haiku reminds me the terror in Akihabara the other day. It rained on the following day. The rain in Akihabara must have appeared different from usual.

Haiku of Richard Wright(55)

(photo) A hydrangea in the rain

(Original)
Shaking the water
Off his dripping body,
The dog swims again.

ずぶ濡れの体
ぶるぶるっとさせて
犬はもう一度泳ぎに


（放哉）
いつしかついて来た犬と浜辺に居る
I find myself
On the beach with the dog
That has followed me without notice.

■I have seen the scene of Wright's haiku many times. In this way, this doesn't have novelty. However it is infrequent for a dog to swim again because dogs dislike water. This may be a rare case without a dog that is trained to save drowning persons. On the other hand, Housai expresses deep loneliness in dry humor. The lonely dog that followed the lonely man to get to the beach: it might smell the same smell in the man as its.

Haiku of Richard Wright(54)

(photo) early summer flowers

(Original)
A September rain
Tumbling down in drops so big
They wobble as they fall.

九月の雨は
突然の大粒で
ゆらゆらと落ちてくる

（Hohsai）
久し振りの雨の雨だれの音
The sounds of raindrops
On the first rainy day
In a long time.




■I couldn't quite see the scene of Wright's haiku, though I comprehend it is not a heavy rain. When here in Japan big raindrops begin to fall suddenly, it often become a heavy rain. "wobble" doesn't mean a heavy rain , but big drops fall while moving unsteadly from side to side. I can't imagine the scene. In the case of Hohsai, I can share his feelings of delight about the first sounds of randrops in a long time. It sounds attractive to me because I have experiences that it healed me when I was out of shape.

Haiku of Richard Wright(53)

(photo) In gloves

A sparrow's feather
On a barb of rusty wire
In the sizzling heat.

錆びた針金がめくれあがって
雀の羽が引っかかっている

炎天


(Hohsai）
雀等いちどきにいんでしまった

All sparrows
have flied away
at the same time.

■It sounds to me that Wright's feater left after Hohsai's sparrows flied away.

Haiku of Richard Wright(52)

(photo) The Sky of Cherry Blossoms

(Original)
Gazing at her face
Reflected in the spring pond,
The girl grimaces.

(Japanese version)
女の子が春の池に
映った自分の顔を見つめている
しかめっつら


(放哉）
雪の戸をあけてしめた女の顔

(Hohsai)
Facial expression of a woman
Who opened and closed
The door to look at snow.

■Wright's work seems to express a girl who is witty. She might once feel an impulse to break her straight face reflected on the pond. On the other hand, Hohsai catches the woman's instant look in checking snow. Probably she was asked the depth of snow by her child and others. It sounds to me that she is use to and is unconcerned with snow.

Haiku of Ricard Wright(51)

(Original)
As the sun goes down,
A green melon splits open
And juice trickes out.


日が暮れると
青いメロンが割れて
汁が溢れた


(Hohsai）
財布はたいてしまひつめたい鼻だ

(English version)
I've spent my last penny,
And my nose is cold.

■At first, I don't think Wright's haiku is so good. But I read it several times, and I burst out laughing. I think it has dry humor. In the case of Hohsai's haiku, he laughs about himself. His haiku is sort of self-mocking. But laughing about oneself includes the momenta of consideration for others, relativization of secular values, and self-emancipation rather than simple self-mockery. So I think his haiku means something profound.

Haiku of Ricard Wright(50)

(Original)
One magnolia
Landed upon another
In the dew-wet grass.


(Japanese version)
木蓮が木蓮に
散る
露の草


(Hohsai）
木蓮一日うなづいて居て暮れた

(English version)
Magnolias-
I have nodded all day long
And the sun has gone down.

■Magnolia is a spring word. Wright's haiku has a vivid image as a poem. Did Hohsai talk to somebody or nodded to nature around him? His haiku is humorous.

Haiku of Ricard Wright(49)

(Original)
Burning autumn leaves,
I yearn to make the bonfire
Bigger and bigger.


(Japanese version)
秋　燃える葉
焚き火よ
もっと燃えろもっと


(Housai）
女よ女よ
年取るな

(English version)
Women oh, women!
Don't get old!

■Wright's haiku has really sent me after a long interval. That is attractive as a poem. Hohsai has some own haiku comparable to it. However, I ventured to select his haiku that seemed to have no relation with it. Nevertheless his haiku, I think, has harmony with "burning autumn leaves", because he wishes women were elegant forever.

Haiku of Rchard Wright(48)

(Original)
A bursting ripe plum
Forms a pool upon a leaf
From which sparrows drink.


(Japanese version)
熟れたプラムがはじけて
葉の上に汁が溜まっている。
雀たちがそれを飲む。


(Hohsai）
雨の幾日がつづき雀と見てゐる

(English version)
During some rainy days
I watch rain
With sparrows.

■Wright's work has affection for sparrows, but he considers them as sparrows. Hohsai watches rain in the same eyes as sparrows. He has no dualism between human beings and sparrows.

Haiku of Richard Wright(47)

(Original)
The spring lingers on
In the scent of a damp log
Rotting in the sun.


(Japanese version)
春去らず
太陽に焼かれて
湿気た丸太が饐えた匂いを放つ



(Hohsai）
何か求むる心海へ放つ

(English version)
Loose the mind
In the sea
That asks for something.

■The smell of a danmp log, that I know well, since I played near a sawmill in my childhood, doesn't make us feel badly. Wright feels in the scent spring doesn't have gone and summer not come. In that sense his haiku can be said to be sensitive. On the other hand, the work of Hohsai seems both concerned with and not at all with it. However, his haiku has something to make us be given pause. I don't know if " ask for" is caused by human nature or is accelerated by the modern age, but I know well we " ask for" something every day and night. Or it might be better to say that we are forced to "ask for". The work of Hohsai suggests the sea is the beginning and end of life and has receptiveness beyond life and death. It is understandable through it why we sometimes have a wild urge to see the sea.