A Selection of Haiku by Buson

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BY Buson
TRANSLATED BY Edward McFadden
鯰得て帰る田植の男かな

having caught a catfish
he goes back to rice planting
what a man
なれ過ぎた鮓をあるじの遺恨哉

toward the too-familiar sushi
the ill will
of the proprietor
鮓つけて誰待としもなき身哉

soaking the raw fish
some wait even a year
not me
酒十駄ゆりもて行や夏こだち

saké, ten horseloads
swaying step by step
a leafy grove
みちのくの語友に草扉をたゝかれて / 葉がくれの枕さがせよ瓜ばたけ

giving the boot to the poet Goyû of Michinoku at the door to the hut

hidden among the leaves
of the melon patch
find yourself a pillow
書生の閑窓に書す / 学問は尻からぬけるほたる哉

a student takes a break from writing under the window

as for scholarly attainments:
slipping from his backside
a lightning bug
かはほりやむかひの女房こちを見る

A bat flits by
the neighbor’s wife
glances over here
垣越えて蟇の避け行かやりかな

seen from over the hedge
a toad creeping out to avoid
a smudge fire
蠅いとふ身を古郷に昼寝かな

silently
in the gap between visitors
a peony blooms
蠅いとふ身を古郷に昼寝かな

sick of the flies
in my hometown
I need a nap
— HEADER DETAIL FROM A PAINTING BY BUSON (Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art)
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Biography

YOSA BUSON (1716-1784) was a Japanese painter and poet of the Edo period. Following Matsuo Bashō (Narrow Road to the Far North), he sought to restore the quality of poetry in that tradition. Buson wrote verse depicting the lower strata of the Japanese social order as well as common, overlooked creatures. He was self-deprecating, identifying himself at times as a “scholar-amateur” and an itinerant traveler. Talking about his friendship with Sakaki Hyakusen, he said, “We wrote in free, audacious ways, neither of us seeking fame in haikai.”

A recent graduate of the creative writing program at the University of Montana, EDWARD MCFADDEN‘s translations of the Edo Period haiku artist, Yosa Buson, have appeared in Kyoto Journal, RHINO, Sugar Mule, and Zero Ducats. From 1998-2002, he lived and worked in Japan.

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