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Examples
The following examples come from the three great masters of the haiku:
Basho, Buson and Issa. Due to the differences between Japanese and English,
the translations do not conform to the 17-syllable, 7-5-7 pattern that
the poems were originally written in. However, I've have included a Japanese
language version for the first poem, so you can see how the original looks.
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Example: #1
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Japanese version |
English Version |
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Here is a famous poem by Basho. Look at both the Japanese
and the English versions, then roll your mouse over them to learn
more.
Notice how the pivot word "in" could be interpreted in
two ways. Does the frog leap in the water or the water's
sound?
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translated by
William J. Higginson*
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*Thanks to William J. Higginson, for permission to reprint the translation of Bashô's “old pond” from The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku, published by Kodansha International, copyright © 1985 by William J. Higginson.
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Example: #2
Here is an example from Buson. He lived from 1716-83 and was an
accomplished painter as well as a poet. He is sometimes considered
more worldly than Basho.
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translated by
Robert Hass
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Example: #3
Here is a poem from Issa, who lived from 1763-1827. His name means
"single bubble in sleeping tea" and he is known as a humanist
who loved all creatures, including the crawly kind. He also had
a sense of humor that comes through in some of his poems.
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Translated by
Robert Hass
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