Saturday, 13 August 2016

SHIKI ON SUMMER

#shiki #haiku #summer

SHIKI Masaoka

A HAIKU about SUMMER

#Hiragana #Romaji

くんぶぅゃ Kumpū ya!
せんざんのみどり Senzan no midori
てらひとっ Tera hitotsu

Kumpū also written kunpū
Kun Fragrance + Fu Wind Breeze
Sen 1000 Zan is San Mountain of greem midori
Tera buddhist temple hitotsu one single

Fragrant Breeze !
Amidst a thousand green mountains
A single temple.

He must have been somewhere very remote for there to have been just one small temple and not a whole complex given the fondness of the Japanese for building temples and shrines atop mountains.

Fragrant breeze is a KIGO for summer or late spring so while I've seen one translator suggest pines for the source many trees flower in summer.

Perhaps a remote valley too small to be worth farming but just enough room for a shrine and trees?





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