間 ma
the classic archive

Classic Japanese haiku, season by season.

32 poems by Bashō, Buson, Issa, Chiyo-ni, and Shiki, each with its English translation, its rōmaji reading, the Japanese original, and where it comes from. Read them here, then enter Ma to dwell in them one breath at a time.

spring blossoms · sakura

An old silent pond a frog leaps into water, the sound of stillness.

Matsuo Bashō

furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto

composed 1686; trans. R.H. Blyth, Haiku (1949–52)

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The light of a candle is passed to another candle spring twilight.

Yosa Buson

shoku no hi o / shoku ni utsusu ya / haru no yū

trans. Robert Hass, The Essential Haiku (1994)

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In the blossom shade there is no such thing at all as a stranger.

Kobayashi Issa

hana no kage / aka no tanin wa / nakari keri

trans. David G. Lanoue, Haiku of Kobayashi Issa

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The morning glory has taken the well-bucket I beg for water.

Fukuda Chiyo-ni

asagao ni / tsurube torarete / morai mizu

trans. Patricia Donegan & Yoshie Ishibashi, Chiyo-ni (1998)

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The spring sea, rising and falling, rising, all the day long.

Yosa Buson

haru no umi / hinemosu notari / notari kana

composed c.1763; The Penguin Book of Haiku (2018)

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From all directions winds bring petals of cherry into the grebe lake.

Matsuo Bashō

shihō yori / hana fuki irete / nio no nami

on Lake Biwa; cf. Ueda, Bashō and His Interpreters (1992)

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Spring rain falling chatting as we walk along, straw raincoat, umbrella.

Yosa Buson

harusame ya / monogatari yuku / mino to kasa

trans. Robert Hass, The Essential Haiku (1994)

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A lovely spring night suddenly vanished while we viewed the cherry bloom.

Matsuo Bashō

haru no yo wa / sakura ni akete / shimai keri

composed 1694; standard Bashō collections

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summer fireflies · hotaru

Such utter stillness sinking into the boulders, the cicadas’ cry.

Matsuo Bashō

shizukasa ya / iwa ni shimiiru / semi no koe

Oku no Hosomichi (1689)

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The summer rains facing the swollen great river, two little houses.

Yosa Buson

samidare ya / taiga o mae ni / ie niken

standard Buson anthologies; cf. Blyth, Haiku (1949–52)

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This dewdrop world is only a dewdrop world, and yet… and yet…

Kobayashi Issa

tsuyu no yo wa / tsuyu no yo nagara / sari nagara

Ora ga Haru (1819)

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The summer grasses all that remains of the dreams of ancient warriors.

Matsuo Bashō

natsu-gusa ya / tsuwamono-domo ga / yume no ato

Oku no Hosomichi (1689)

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How cool it feels here the faint crescent of the moon over Black Wing Hill.

Matsuo Bashō

suzushisa ya / hono mikazuki no / Haguro-yama

Oku no Hosomichi (1689)

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On the temple bell a butterfly has settled fast asleep at noon.

Yosa Buson

tsurigane ni / tomarite nemuru / kochō kana

standard Buson anthologies; trans. R.H. Blyth

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The cuckoo calling where it disappears to, a single island.

Matsuo Bashō

hototogisu / kieyuku kata ya / shima hitotsu

composed 1693; standard Bashō collections

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Don’t swat that fly! see how it wrings its hands, see how it wrings its feet.

Kobayashi Issa

yare utsu na / hae ga te o suri / ashi o suru

composed 1820; trans. David G. Lanoue

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autumn leaves · momiji

On a bare branch a crow has settled down autumn nightfall.

Matsuo Bashō

kare eda ni / karasu no tomarikeri / aki no kure

composed c.1680; trans. R.H. Blyth, Haiku (1949–52)

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Now and again the clouds give a moon-viewer a little rest.

Matsuo Bashō

kumo oriori / hito o yasumeru / tsukimi kana

standard Bashō collections; trans. R.H. Blyth

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Wild grasses in bloom all we speak of, all we tell, is the autumn wind.

Kobayashi Issa

kusabana ya / iu mo kataru mo / aki no kaze

composed 1810; trans. David G. Lanoue

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Along this road no one travels at all autumn evening.

Matsuo Bashō

kono michi ya / yuku hito nashi ni / aki no kure

composed 1694; cf. Ueda, Bashō and His Interpreters (1992)

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The autumn full moon all night long I paced round and round the pond.

Matsuo Bashō

meigetsu ya / ike o megurite / yomosugara

composed 1686; cf. Ueda, Bashō and His Interpreters (1992)

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I bite into a persimmon and a bell resounds Hōryū-ji.

Masaoka Shiki

kaki kueba / kane ga naru nari / Hōryū-ji

composed 1895; trans. Burton Watson, Masaoka Shiki (1997)

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The piercing cold I feel my dead wife’s comb, in our bedroom, under my heel.

Yosa Buson

mi ni shimu ya / naki tsuma no kushi o / neya ni fumu

composed 1780; trans. R.H. Blyth, Haiku (1949–52)

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There is a sadness that holds a joy as well autumn evening.

Yosa Buson

sabishisa no / ureshiku mo ari / aki no kure

standard Buson anthologies; cf. Blyth, Haiku (1949–52)

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winter snow · yuki

First winter snow just enough to bend the leaves of the daffodil.

Matsuo Bashō

hatsu yuki ya / suisen no ha no / tawamu made

composed 1686; trans. R.H. Blyth, Haiku (1949–52)

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The winter storm the voice of the rushing water torn by the rocks.

Yosa Buson

kogarashi ya / iwa ni sake yuku / mizu no koe

trans. R.H. Blyth, Haiku (1949–52)

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The snow is melting and the village overflows with children.

Kobayashi Issa

yuki tokete / mura ippai no / kodomo kana

composed 1814; trans. David G. Lanoue

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Sick on my journey, my dreams wander on and on over withered fields.

Matsuo Bashō

tabi ni yande / yume wa kareno o / kakemeguru

composed 1694; Bashō’s death poem

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The first cold shower even the monkey seems to want a little straw coat.

Matsuo Bashō

hatsu shigure / saru mo komino o / hoshige nari

Sarumino (1691)

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I sink in the axe and am startled by the scent: the winter grove.

Yosa Buson

ono irete / ka ni odoroku ya / fuyu kodachi

trans. Robert Hass, The Essential Haiku (1994)

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In my old home everything that I touch turns into a bramble.

Kobayashi Issa

furusato ya / yoru mo sawaru mo / bara no hana

trans. David G. Lanoue

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The sea darkens the cries of the wild ducks are faintly white.

Matsuo Bashō

umi kurete / kamo no koe / honoka ni shiroshi

composed 1684; trans. R.H. Blyth, Haiku (1949–52)

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