春や来し年や行きけん小晦日
haru ya koshi toshi ya yukiken kotsugomori


is spring here?
is the year over already?
second-to-last-day
—Basho


(Tr. David LaSpina)

_{("Early Spring" by Tokuriki Tomikichiro)}

This is either Basho's first or second dated hokku, written when he was only 19. While it bears little similarity with his later hokku after he mastered the form, it does display his wit as well as his knowledge of prior poetry.

The old Japanese calendar was a lunar calendar in which the new year was celebrated with the beginning of spring. Here Basho is commenting that it seems Spring has begun but the calendar shows there are still 2 more days of winter.

He is also alluding to two older poems. The first, from Ariwara Motokawa:

During the old year
spring has come.
The remaining days:
should we call them
last year
or this year?

The second, from the Tale of Isa, a woman to her lover after their first meeting:

was it you who came
or I who went?
I don't remember
was it dream or reality?
was I asleep or awake?

New Years haiku present a small problem with our modern Western calendar. The time surrounding New Years is typically given as its own season in the haiku world, the 5th season—or more properly the 1st season. In the old Japanese calendar things were nice and neat: winter, New Years, spring. But now we have winter, New Years, more winter.

As far as problems go, this isn't a huge one, but when we are dealing with old New Years haiku that suggest spring is here, it does sound slightly odd to modern ears when for us New Years means another two long months of winter.

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Don't miss other great haiku in the Haiku of Japan series!

#1–10 — Haiku of Japan :: Collection #1
#11–20 — Haiku of Japan :: Collection #2
#21–30 — Haiku of Japan :: Collection #3
#31–40 — Haiku of Japan :: Collection #4
#41–50 — Haiku of Japan :: Collection #5
#51–60 — Haiku of Japan :: Collection #6
#61 — Turncoat Umbrella
#62 — Ten Autumns
#63 — Scattering Leaves
#64 — Gravekeeper
#65 — To Kill an Ant
#66 — Frosty Rose
#67 — Don't Give Up
#68 — Matsushima
#69 — Meeting With the Buddha
#70 — Winter Wind
#71 — Born Lucky
#72 — Late New Year's
#73 — New Year's Cleaning
#74 — Dreams of Turtles

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I post one photo everyday, as well as a haiku and as time allows, videos, more Japanese history, and so on. Let me know if there is anything about Japan you would like to know more about or would like to see.

Who is David?
	David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time.