身あがりに独ねざめの夜寒哉

on her day off
the prostitute wakes up alone
ah, the cold of night
—Chiyo-ni

(miagari ni hitori / nezame no / yosamu kana)

(woodblock print by Tomiya Oda)

Chiyo-ni is generally considered the one of the greatest female haiku poets in Japanese history, or at least one of the best. Her teachers were students of Basho so you can definitely see hints of him in her work, but she did develop her own style. She began writing haiku when she was 7 and by 17 she had already become very popular all over Japan.

Some time after her husband died, she took Buddhist vows and became a nun; she still lived at home, but lived a very simple life, writing poetry and communicating with friends.

In the above haiku she takes a compassionate look at sadness of a profession we don't often give much compassion to.

One of her friends, a fellow nun named Kasenjo has been a prostitute in her youth and so it's speculated Chiyo-ni may have been thinking of her when she wrote the above poem.

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

#1 - Traveling to the inn
#2 - Childless Woman
#3 - Old Dancing Butterfly
#4 - Seeing the Moon
#5 - Checking the Scarecrow
#6 - Skill of Insects
#7 - The Spider Lilies
#8 - A Thousand Green Mountains
#9 - Falling Lead Enlightenment
#10 - Lonely Night

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org.