Haiku Example Page
Don’t weep, insects –
Lovers, stars themselves, Must part. - Kobayashi Issa |
I kill an ant
and realize my three children have been watching. - Kato Shuson |
The man pulling radishes
pointed my way with a radish. Translated by Robert Hass Kobayashi Issa |
In school, you have likely been instructed to compose a haiku & given certain parameters for the poem: Haiku should examine nature as a theme, and the haiku must be composed of three lines of 5, 7, & 5 syllables, respectively. This is a great beginning, but it is also an oversimplification. There are some key differences between the English and Japanese languages that make both composing a haiku in English and translating a Japanese haiku into English challenging.
Matsuo Basho's haiku about the frog is perhaps one of the most famous examples of haiku. To demonstrate the variations that can exist in translation from Japanese to English, please examine the following examples;
In original Japanese: Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto Translations: Old pond — frogs jumped in — sound of water. Translated by Lafcadio Hearn Into the ancient pond A frog jumps Water’s sound! Translated by D.T. Suzuki The old pond; A frog jumps in -- The sound of the water. Translated by R.H. Blyth The old pond, yes, and A frog-jumping-in-the- Water’s noise! Translated by G.S. Fraser translations taken from www.bopsecrets.org/gateway/passages/basho-frog.htm |
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