笠もなきわれを時雨るるかこは何と
kasa mo naki ware o shigururu ka ko wa nanto
no rain hat
is winter drizzle falling?
oh well
—Basho
(Tr. David LaSpina)
(Print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi)
Basho here is expressing his indifference to the rain with a cheerful shrug. His message is I can't change the weather, so why let it affect me—it's all good.
When I go outside here in Japan or when I visit family or friends in the US, it seems like the number one complaint people have (and constantly express) is the weather. ugh, it's so hot. ugh, it's so cold. ugh, rain again. ugh, so windy today. And so on so forth.
We could all learn from Basho's example.
Don't miss the other great haiku in the Haiku of Japan series!
- Traveling to the inn
- Childless Woman
- Old Dancing Butterfly
- Seeing the Moon
- Checking the Scarecrow
- Skill of Insects
- The Spider Lilies
- A Thousand Green Mountains
- Falling Lead Enlightenment
- Lonely Night
- Her Day Off
- Autumn Crow
- Faint Footprints
- Alone on the Road
- Autumn Begins
- Early Morning Moon Viewing
- Mistaken for a Scarecrow
- The Galactic River
- The Love of Cats
- Autumn Waterfall
- The Thief and the Moon
- My Frozen Balls
- Saké Waves
- Friends with the Moon
- Falling Flower
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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. |