Connie’s Reviews > The Poetry of Chiyo-ni: The Life and Art of Japan's Most Celebrated Woman Haiku Master > Status Update

sounds enter the water
on this night—
hototogisu

ものの音
水に入夜や
ほととぎす

mono no oto
mizu ni iru yo ya
hototogisu

change of kimono:
showing only her back
to the blossom's fragance

花の香に
うしろ見せてや
更衣

hana no ka ni
ushiro misete ya
koromagae

moonflowers—
the beauty
of hidden things

ゆふがほや
物のかくれて
うつくしき

yūgao ya
mono no kakurete
utsukushiki

Note: The moonflower blooms in the dark, unfolding its whiteness faintly at first and then more so as the night darkens.

moonflowers!
when a woman's skin
is revealed

夕顔や
女子の肌の
見ゆる時

yūgao ya
onago no hada no
miyuru toki

rouged lips
forgotten—
clear springwater

紅さいた
口もわするる
しみずかな

beni saita
kuchi mo wasururu
shimizu kana

cuckoo—
still a blank paper
how lonely

杜鵑
まだ白紙の
おはれなり

hototogisu
mada shirakami no
aware nari

mosquito-net grass
also hangs
at the flower shrine

蚊帳つりの
草もさげてや
花御堂

kayatsuri no
kusa mo sagete ya
hanamidō

Note: The flower shrine is used for the Hanamatsuri (Flower Festival) to commemorate Buddha's birthday on April eighth. Cherry blossoms and other seasonal flowers are usually used rather than mosquito-net grass, a common weed, to adorn the roof of the enshrined Buddha statue. Another haiku of humility:
　 ひとすじに 　百合はうつむく 　ばかり也
　 hitosuji ni yuri wa utsumuku bakari nari
　 the one true path / for the lily / is just to bow her head