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(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
