Sute-jo's Higurashi Haiku

#sute-jo #higurashi #haiku

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 ...

Higurashi Japanese Sculptures

#Japanese #Sculptures of Higurashi

Here's an actual #higurashi cicada and heres some 3d sculptures

I hope you've enjoyed this medley

Please check the archives for more collections of images based on themes also poetry translations!

What are Higurashi ?

#higurashi #japanesecicada #cicada  #utamaro #print #kachoga

SO WHAT IS A HIGURASHI
and how does it differ from #semi

The usual word for Cicada is Semi but there is another cicada species called #higurashi

This is Tanna Japonensis the cicada that sings at dawn or dusk or when the sky is overcast.
Its numbers and song peak in mid October. As well as featuring in various waka and haiku it is also the subject of one of Utamaro's Insects and Flowers series published to illustrate a book:

Although mentioned in many poems it doesn't seem to have been as popular as a theme for visual arts apart from some netsuke. I was surprised to find so few prints and this is the best of them.

Utamaro is best known for bijin beautiful women prints and he brings the same elegant style  to this depiction of plants and insects.