SUTE-JO'S HIGURASHI HAIKU
This poetess become a nun in later life and was part of the Basho lineage of Haiku writers
Higurashi ya!
Sutete oite mo
Kururu hi wa
Oh higurashi
Abandoned Left behind
By the sun
I have read but not experienced Higurashi singing mainly in the evening but sometimes in the morning or if the weather suddenly becomes overcast and cloudy. I have taken some liberties with the string of verbs in the middle shifting to the passive in English.
Sutete may be a pun on' Sute-jos name "abandoned wife"
Oite is a shortened form of okite used when it was combined with other verbs?
Kururu is not kuru - come but an older literary form of kureru !
The last line could also be translated as darkens day
This is the sort of haiku in which the Japanese is so compact and dense you have to make the lines longer or shorter in English. The closest I can get to the assonance of suteTE oiTE is aBandoned left Behind By ...
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