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

winter rain—
in one room
yesterday, today passes

時雨るるや
一間にきのふ
けふもくれ

shigururu ya
hitoma ni kinō
kyō mo kure

the blowing wind
split, split by
winter trees

吹風の
はなればなれや
ふゆ木立

fuku kaze no
hanare-banare ya
fuyu kodachi

snowy night—
only the well bucket's
falling sound

雪の夜や
ひとり釣瓶の
落る音

yuki no yo ya
hitori tsurube no
ochiru oto

a vow from a summer evening
is frightening—
frost on the bridge

夏の夜の
ちぎりおそろし
橋の霜

natsu no yo no
chigiri osoroshi
hashi no shimo

Note: The word chigiri refers to a lovers' vow.

tea flowers—
their blooming
delays the dusk

茶のはなや
此夕暮を
咲のばし

chanohana ya
kono yūgure o
saki nobashi

Note: The tea flower is white, so the light seems to remain on it when night falls.

tapping the gourd
every night—
the bamboo is uplifted

鉢たたき
夜毎に竹を
起しける

hachi tataki
yogoto ni take o
okoshikeru

Note: For forty-eight days in winter, the monks of Kūyadō temple in Kyoto went on their rounds every night tapping the gourd with a bamboo stick and reciting the name of Buddha, Namu Amidabutsu, as a blessing to all. Perhaps as they walked down the path they compassionately straightened up the bamboo that had blown down or perhaps the bamboo was also awakened by the sound.

becoming flowers
becoming water drops—
this morning's snow

花となり
雫となるや
今朝の雪

hana to nari
shizuku to naru ya
kesa no yuki

the passing year—
irritating things
are only water

行としや
もどかしきもの
水斗

yuku toshi ya
modokashiki mono
mizu-bakari

Note: This haiku has a double meaning impossible to translate into English. First, irritating things pass away like flowing water, and second, water is irritating because it is impermanent and always flowing away. This haiku shows Chiyo-ni's human side—that she, too, was sometimes irritated by life's fleeting quality, yet knew that this fact removed the irritating things as well.

sewing things—
I fold in dreams
on a December night

物ぬひや
夢たたみこむ
師走の夜

mono nui ya
yume tatamikomu
shiwasu no yo