いつせいに柱の燃ゆる都かな
issei ni hashira no moyuru miyako kana
all at once
flaming wooden pillars
in the capital
—By Mitsuhashi Toshio
(Tr. David LaSpina)
(Tokyo Firebombing, May 26th, 1945, from Wikicommons)
Mitsuhashi favored the shinko haiku style, which was free-form (i.e., not 17 syllables) without a season word. Within this style, there was a sub-genre called senka sobo haiku which was all about commenting on the war, often negatively. Unfortunately this led to the group being targeted by the government for anti-patriotic activity. Many of the leaders were thrown in prison, tortured, and killed.
Major air raids over Tokyo began the night of March 9th, 1945. Mitsuhashi was a soldier overseas at the time and he later returned to find his house gone. This is his imagining the burning of his house.
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| Don't miss other great haiku in the Haiku of Japan series! |
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Recent Haiku
- 81 — Winter Game
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- 83 — Passing Through
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- 86 — Still Alive
- 87 — After Demon Purification
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| Who is David? | |
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 | David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. |