解らない言葉の中を通る
wakaranai kotoba no naka o toru
passing through
words
I don't understand
—Santoka
(Tr. David LaSpina)
(Print by Tsuchiya Koitsu)
In the later half of his life, Santoka walked all over Japan. He would stop in some town, beg for enough money to afford some sake and a cheap room to sleep, then resume his travel. He called it his zen walking. This haiku was composed on one of his travels.
At the time it was written, in 1932, Japan would have been full of many languages. Korea, Taiwan, and parts of China had been a part of the Empire for over 30 years and so there were a number of different ethnicities in the country. There were all required to know and speak Japanese, but in practice they would likely have used their native tongue when talking amongst each other.
In addition to other languages he might have been hearing but not understanding, Japanese itself was much more diverse than it is now, with many dialects so different from each other they might as well have been different languages.
One can imagine the difficulty understanding conversation around him in this kind of environment.
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| Don't miss other great haiku in the Haiku of Japan series! |
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Recent Haiku
- 71 — Born Lucky
- 72 — Late New Year's
- 73 — New Year's Cleaning
- 74 — Dreams of Turtles
- 75 — An Early Spring
- 76 — Fan After Bath
- 77 — High High is the Snow?
- 78 — Sunset Desire
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Collections
- Collection 1 :: Haiku 1–10
- Collection 2 :: Haiku 11–20
- Collection 3 :: Haiku 21-30
- Collection 4 :: Haiku 31-40
- Collection 5 :: Haiku 41-50
- Collection 6 :: Haiku 51-60
- Collection 7 :: Haiku 61–70
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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? | |
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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. |