Basho’s dream
2009/05/02
In 1689, 320 years ago, Matsuo Basho visited Kisakata, Akita on the narrow road to Oku. He composed his haiku:
象潟や雨に西施がねぶの花
Kisakata ya ame ni Seishi ga nebu no hana
Donald Keene translated this haiku into English,
Kisakata―
Seishi sleeping in the rain,
Wet mimosa blossoms.
In 2004 I visited Kisakata and composed my own haiku:
Basho’s wind
circling stone tablet
midsummer
夏の句碑蕉風立ちて清々し
Natsu no kuhi shofu tachite sugasugashi
This haiku appeared in the Asahi newspaper’s Asahi Haikuist Network by David McMurray in 2004, who noted that “Hidenori Hiruta in Akita wrote his haiku in celebration of the 360th anniversary of Matsuo Basho’s birth.”
Now, in May 2009, I have just written another haiku, inspired by this picture of a mimosa tree in Kisakata:
Basho’s dream
roaming all over the world
mimosa blossoms
世を廻る芭蕉の夢やねぶの花
Yo wo meguru Basho no yume ya nebu no hana
― Hidenori Hiruta (Akita)
