Classic Haiku

by Yuzuru selected and translator Miura

Classic A Master's Selection (Tuttle Classics)

Genres: Poetry, Japan, Japanese Literature, Classics, Nonfiction, Asia

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1900

Reviews

[Flo · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the cherry blossoms gone
The temple is glimpsed
Through twigs and branches
—Yosa Buson

*

Amidst the grassland
Sings a skylark
Free and disengaged from all things
—Matsuo Bashō

*

Flickering lights
of fireflies
forebode their short lives.
—Kawabata Bōsha

March 30, 21

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some Samples by seasons:

Spring

In the spring sea
Waves undulating and undulating
All day long.
--Yosa Busson (1716-1784)

Summer

A sudden shower--
I am riding naked
On a naked horse.
--Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827)

The fly
Wringing its hands and rubbing its feet--
Don't swat it!
--Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827)

In summer grasses
Are now buried
Glorious dreams of ancient warriors.
--Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

A woman
Taking a bath in a tub
Is coveted by a crow.
--Takahama Kyoshi (1874-1959)

What a cooling sight--
To see a young maid
Tying up her narrow sash.
--Kubota Mantaro (1889-1963)

I love the rest of my life
Though it is transitory
Like a light azure morning glory.
--Tomiyasu Fusei (1885-1979)

Coolness!
The sound of the bell
Leaving the bell.
--Yosa Buson (1716-1784)

Autumn

Oh, cricket!
Act as grave keeper
After I am gone.
--Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827)

Silent communion
Between the guest,
The host, and the white chrysanthemum.
--Oshima Ryota (1718-1787)

Winter

The sleet falls
As if coming through the bottom
Of loneliness.
--Naito Joso (1662-1704)

In vain a winter bee
Went on tottering
For a place to die.
--Murakami Kijo (1865-1930)

[fraulein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peringatan : Ini bukan review.



Sudah diperingatkan ya.



Dari dulu imo puisi itu sulit. Sulit dimengerti, sulit dipahami. Dulu bahkan pernah nanya ke kakak angkatan yang aktif berkesenian, bagaimana caranya untuk memahami puisi. Tawa yang manis keluar dari bibir kakak kelas itu. Katanya, nggak usah terlalu dipusingin. Dibaca aja. Lalu mungkin nanti akan ada satu kata atau satu kalimat yang bisa 'klik' dengan perasaanmu sehingga kamu bisa terhubung dengan puisinya. Kurang lebih demikian yang dikatakan kakak kelasku yang cantik itu. Sarannya yang sederhana itu nggak berhasil buatku.

Kemudian bertemulah aku dengan haiku. Tertarik oleh 'kesederhanaan'-nya yang terdiri atas tiga baris tujuh belas silabel, aku bahkan sampai membeli buku yang membahas haiku secara teknis, The Japanese Haiku karya Kenneth Yasuda. Kalau dipikirkan sekarang aku pantasnya merasa terkejut mengingat semangatku waktu itu. Haha. Dan, ya -dugaan kalian benar- aku nggak baca The Japanese Haiku sampai habis. Dan, ya. Haiku tak sesederhana itu. Dari yang kubaca, ada satu hal yang kurang lebih kurasa aku mengerti dari proses kreatif penciptaan haiku yaitu adanya satu momen 'ah-ness'.

'I know that when one happens to see a beautiful sunset or lovely flowers, for instance, he is often so delighted that he merely stands still. This state of mind might be called "ah-ness'' for the beholder can only give one breath long exclamation of delight : "Ah!" The object has seized him and he is aware only of the shapes, the colors, the shadows, the blendings. In a brief moment he sees a pattern a significance he had not seen before. There is no time or place explicitly for reflection, for judgement, or for the observer's feelings. There is only the speaking, impassioned object with its extraordinary powers to set up echoes in the reader's mind' - hal 31. The Japanese Haiku, Kenneth Yasuda.

Sederhananya seperti ketika steker dimasukkan ke stop kontak. Seperti ketika hati Agnes dan Hachiken yang menyatu ketika melihat Mikage mencoba kacamata Hachiken (Silver Spoon 13).
Mungkin. Hahaha.


Membaca itu membuatku berpikir apakah itu yang dimaksud Mbak V? Suatu kata yang tersambung dengan satu memori mengenai suatu rasa atau pengalaman atau benda atau yang lain yang tersimpan di suatu tempat di lipatan otak kita yang membuat suatu karya menjadi personal bagi pembaca/penikmatnya.



Dengan keterbatasan pengetahuan mengenai haiku, kemampuan nol di bahasa Jepang maupun tulisan kanji/hiragana, komik dan buku membelokkan personalisasi haiku-ku ke jalan lain. Hal paling menyenangkan dari haiku adalah kekuatan visual kata-katanya. Dengan cukup mudah aku bisa membayangkan suasananya (kurang lebih tentu saja), apalagi haiku dibuat berdasarkan musim dan juga perayaan tahun baru. Bagaimana bisa? Karena aku membaca buku dan komik. Apakah itu momen ah-ness ku? Bukan.

Tak sedikit haiku di buku ini yang tak bisa 'kutangkap'. Tapi tak sedikit juga ada saat ketika membaca buku lain/komik aku justru mendapat penjelasan yang bisa membuatku mendapat sedikit gambaran mengenai haiku-nya. Itulah momen ah-ness ku. Misalnya ketika membaca salah satu adegan komik Slow Step, Oh! Jadi ini yang namanya 'sudden rain' . Atau ketika membaca buku Discover Japan, Oh! Jadi bunga morning glory sejatinya begitu! Jadi, ketika membaca kembali haiku-nya aku bisa membayangkannya dengan lebih jelas. Terkadang ada juga adegan di komik yang membuatku berpikir, Ah, kok cocok sekali dengan suasana haiku itu, yaa . Itulah momen ah-ness ku.

Mungkin bukan pengalaman estetik, tapi inipun buatku sudah sangat menyenangkan. Rasanya aku jadi berutang pada buku haiku ini dan juga buku Kenneth Yasuda yang kutemukan beberapa tahun berselang setelah pertanyaanku pada Mbak V.



Buku ini memuat haiku-haiku klasik karya Basho, Busson, Issa dan juga karya-karya yang lebih modern. Selain dalam huruf kanji/hiragana, haiku-nya juga ditulis dalam romaji serta terjemahan dalam bahasa inggris. Di beberapa halaman ada yang diimbuhi kaligrafi dan lukisan. Ada juga beberapa penjelasan singkat mengenai penyair haiku atau objek yang disebut di dalam haikunya.

Salah satu favoritku ada di bagian musim panas, yang membuat ingatanku lari ke Cross Game ketika Kou berlari sendirian di tangga kuil saat pelatihan intensifnya di bawah rapatnya bayang-bayang dedaunan pohon besar. Lalu di tangga bawah dilihatnya ada sebotol air mineral dan sehelai handuk. Tak ada siapapun di sana. Adegan beralih ke Aoba -yang datang ke pelatihan karena dimintai tolong orang tua Kou untuk membawakan baju ganti Kou yang tertinggal di rumah- di dalam bus, hendak pulang. Iya, Aoba yang meletakkannya.


Young leaves-
The sound of a waterfall
Heard from far and near



Lima bintang karena kaligrafi dan lukisannya.

[Punk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haiku chosen for, as Miura says in the preface, literary merit rather than historical significance, meaning these small poems stand on their own and require no obscure historical knowledge to enjoy or understand. Miura's intent was to convey the "poetic essence of the originals" in his translations, but I found them to be overly wordy and emotional at times, too obviously driving me toward a specific feeling that I suspect—or know—was only hinted at in the original. Miura also has a tendency to select words that exaggerate the poet's choices, such as substituting "phantoms" for "dreams" in Bashō's death poem:


When I'm sick on a journey
  Phantoms move about
   Over the desolate moor.


The poems are arranged by season plus a short fifth section for New Year's. Each poem gets its own page with the original, a transliteration, and an English translation. Originals are presented vertically in three staggered lines read from right to left, and transliterations and translations are also in three lines. Pages might include a brief biography of the poet, a note with additional context, or a small illustration by Saitō Gorō or calligraphy by Yokoi Enshū.

Here's Miura's translation of one of my favorite Bashō poems:


How cold—
  Freshly washed
   White leeks.


You'll note there are no extraneous feelings words thrown in there, as Miura doesn't always elaborate on the original, which makes this collection feel somewhat uneven, veering from specific literal feelings to brief, evocative images. The poets are an equal mix of old masters and modern, including some work by Miura himself.

I found this most valuable for its inclusion of the original haiku, complete with furigana to indicate the reading for certain kanji.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of classic and modern haiku from Japan presented in the original Japanese, in Romaji (the romanized form of Japanese), and in English. I found it a great selection of haiku and a great book to help understand the structure in Japanese and compare to how it translates into English. Also, I appreciated the notes about the culture and authors peppered throughout the volume.

[Rhiannon Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully presented haiku with translation, transliteration, and original on each page, along with illustrations and extra information when appropriate. A pleasure to read and it made me want to write haiku again, too!

[Ruskoley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is really good. I very much enjoyed the variety of authors - including the last poem, written by the editor himself.

What works very well:
breaking the poems into the four seasons (+ "New Years"). Also, the perfectly selected in drawings and calligraphy. Saito Goro and Yokoi Enshu (illustrator and calligrapher) deserve as much credit as the editor and maybe as much as the poets themselves. I am fairly sure Issa would agree.

There are plenty of Issa and Basho haiku, as can be expected. However, there are a good mix of others that keeps this particular collection a bit more nuanced and vibrant than most.

Highly recommended.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of the classic poetry form including major figures like Basho, Issa, and Buson as well as more contemporary writers. The translator (wisely, in my opinion) chose to translate the poems more for expression, not trying to stick to the syllable pattern. The original Japanese is included as well. The poems are divided up into sections based on the seasons and there is biographical information about the poets included. A strong anthology.

[Nimitha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A night boat
Sails away
Illuminated by a wildfire.
~ Issa

Spring rain-
A thrown-away letter
Windblown in the grove.
~ Issa

Grasses are misty,
The waters silent-
A tranquil evening.
~Buson

Lightening gleams
And a night heron's squawk
Travels into the darkness.
~ Basho

[Dannyart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A giant tree
Rises up into the clouds
On the withered field.
-Masaoka Shiki

Butterfly in my hand-
As if it were a spirit
Unearthly, insubstantial.
-Yosa Buson

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Haiku is a collection of 106 poems by masters such as Matsuo Bashō, Kobayashi Issa, and Yosa Buson. It's logically arranged into five sections: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and New Year's Day. While haiku has come to be thought of as any poem in a 5-7-5 syllable arrangement, those familiar with traditional haiku know that there are other requirements that are at least as fundamental as the syllabic arrangement. One of these is that the poem be pure observation devoid of exposition. Another criteria is that it be rooted in nature. A final criteria, historically, has been that the poem indicate the season, if not giving an explicit seasonal word or phrase. This makes the season an optimal organizational unit for the book.

One nice feature of this book is that it includes the English translation, the Japanese romaji version (i.e. the way it would be spoken in Japanese but using roman alphabet characters), and the version using the Japanese system of writing. Granted, for those who aren't fluent in Japanese, these features might not seem to add much. However, sound can be evocative itself in poetry, and so it can be interesting to read the Japanese for that reason. Furthermore, there are those who argue that 5-7-5 syllables is not the closest facsimile to Japanese haiku for haiku written in English. Because of the average length of syllables, some say that a 2-3-2 accented syllable pattern for English haiku is closer to the original Japanese form. Reading the Japanese, gives one an idea of the sound characteristics of Japanese haiku.

[Furthermore, if one loves a haiku enough to want to get it tattooed in Japanese on one's body, one can double-check the characters before one gets it done at a Chinatown tattoo parlor only to find that what one really has tattooed on one's butt is, "Syphilitic nightmare - Ketchup bottle mayhem day - Rides the goat to school"]

Here's a sampling my favorites:

the raftsman's straw cape
brocaded with
the storm-strewn cherry blossoms
- Yosa Buson


calm and serene
the sound of cicada
penetrates the rock
- Matsuo Bashō


in summer grasses
are now buried
glorious dreams of ancient warriors
- Matsuo Bashō


oh, cricket
act as grave keeper
after I'm gone
- Kobayashi Issa

[Denise みか Hutchins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t read many poetry books. I like to savor a poem and give it some time to stew in my mind so even a very short collection of haiku like this took me years to finish. It was worth it, though. Of all the poetic forms, haiku is my favorite. Getting to read the best of the best was a wonderful experience. There’s nothing like a well-written haiku to transport me to a moment in time, allowing my mind to create the sights, smells, sounds, and emotions therein. Just three lines and I’m suddenly in the mountains of old Japan, gazing at a winter vista through my own frosty breath...

Of course, being the poems of the masters, the haiku themselves were virtually guaranteed to be good but this book’s presentation is equally well-done. The occasional ink illustrations or calligraphed Japanese writing helped fill the small pages beautifully without overshadowing the poetry. I very much appreciated the footnotes that helped explain cultural/geographical/etc. references that were key to understanding the true meaning of certain haiku. I also enjoyed the preface--which provided a lot of useful information in a short space--and the way the poems were divided by season (plus a special section for New Year’s, perfect reading for me at this time!) and presented in both Japanese and English text.

Some people may take issue with the way the English translations don’t follow the same syllabic rule as the original Japanese versions, but I appreciate this way of doing things because it allows the English reader to understand the feeling of the original haiku better without having to understand the Japanese language. Forcing English to fit the same form as the original Japanese inevitably degrades the quality of the translation itself, and the meaning of the translation is much more important than the basic structure. Further, as a student of the Japanese language, I actually found the translations extra helpful because it offered a different perspective on what the original Japanese words can mean, aside from their most literal English counterparts.

I’m calling this book done just to add to my reading goal for 2015 but I know I’ll continue to come back to it every time I’m in need of a quiet moment of seasonal inspiration~

[S.B. Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

How much you enjoy this work will depend I think on your individual path to Haiku, whose translations you may have read first and your own experience and perhaps practice of English language haiku.

I find that I have a preference for the translations that I am most familiar with and so Miura is at a disadvantage for a great number of the included classic master’s (Basho, Issa, Buson, Shiki) Haiku that I had experienced previously.

That’s not to say that there weren’t a number that I thought (and could still change my mind on) were interesting additions. Compare the following:





Calm and serene

The sound of a cicada

Penetrates the rock.

- Basho (trans. Miura)



Lonely silence,

a single cicada’s cry

sinking into stone

- Basho (trans. Hamill)



What was a welcome addition to my reading and knowledge was the inclusion of lesser known (in the West at least) but still historically significant later masters like Kyoshi, and Dakotsu:



A woman

Taking a bath in a tub

Is coveted by a crow.

- Kyoshi

The 100 or so haiku are set out in seasonal format, including a section on New Year’s. Each poem is written in English, Romaji and Japanese script, one poem to a page with attendant calligraphy or sumi-e painting. When a poet’s work is introduced a short biographical note is attached.

Though by all means easy for a novice to read, I do wonder if this work might provided more interest for someone with a fair bit of Haiku reading under their belt. A worthy addition to your Haiku collection, though perhaps not a must have.

[༺Kiki༻ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ebook is very nicely formatted and includes ink illustrations. The poems are presented in English, followed by rōmaji and an image containing kanji. I enjoyed the new translation, and hope to read more from Yuzuru Miura.

If you liked this book, you might also enjoy:

✱ The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa
✱ Moon Woke Me Up Nine Times: Selected Haiku of Basho
✱ On Love and Barley: Haiku of Basho

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haiku are highly minimalist being ultra-condensed poems consisting of just 17 syllables (poetic tweets if you like). This book contains a good selection of Japanese haiku from well-known poets such as Basho and Bussan and several other lesser known poets. There is one haiku per page. Each haiku is written in kanji/hiragana and romaji (helpful for less conventional readings of kanji) and there is an English translation of it. There are a few notes giving brief bios of the poets and explanations of some terms used in the haiku. In addition, the book is nicely illustrated. The haiku are arranged according to the four seasons with an extra category for the New Year season. It's a great introduction to haiku.

[Gwen S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The haikus are written in Japanese, but translated into English, which means they no longer fit into the traditional 5-7-5 syllabic pattern. How strange, but understandable that their stressed syllables would be different when compared to the English word.

The four seasons are represented in haiku, including New Year's. How apropos! The vivid imagery created by so few words is astounding.

My favorite two are:

A new year begins
With the blooming
Of a single frosty rose.

A night boat
Sails away
Illuminated by a wildfire.

I would highly recommend this selection to the poets among us.

[Terrance Kutney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because different versions of each poem are offered: english, romaji and kanji. Some of the english versions were not very good, but I haven't found any other books that offer kanji and romaji.

[محمد وقاد · Rating 5 out of 5]

i need writer to tell me about war world 2