【Update 2024-10-29: This is an outdated version of this article. For a more up to date version, please see: https://laspina.org/follow-the-moon-traveling-to-an-inn-a-haiku-journey/ 】
tsuki zo shirube konata e irase tabi no yado
please come this way
a traveler’s inn
—Basho
This is my first post in what I hope will be a daily haiku post. Before moving to Japan I thought haiku were pretentious and somewhat silly. It seemed to me the entire point was to count syllables and therefore anything could be a haiku.
How pointless it is
anything can be haiku
if you can count well
After arriving here however and seeing real haiku poems, I fell in love. These are nothing like the mindless crap that passes for haiku in the US. The best of them paint a scene in your mind just as well as any painter could do. They suggest enough that your mind can fill in the details and transport you there.
I will be sharing some of my favorites here as well as any that I come across a just like. I have many haiku books, so I won't run out anytime soon. Translations are usually my own, but I will note the translator when I use someone else's translation.
Let me know if you have any suggestions for this series.
❦
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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. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon. |