yosa buson summer, autumn, winter. summer 1 the man and his wife once to be punished by death change...
TRANSCRIPT
Yosa Buson
Summer, Autumn, Winter
Summer
1
The man and his wifeonce to be punished by deathchange into summer clothes
Ueda
Few men can give a quick and apt response to a witticism from a woman, they say. During the reign of the Cloistered Emperor Kameyama some mischievous court ladies made a practice of testing young men who came to court by asking if they had ever heard a nightingale sing. A certain major counselor answered, “An insignificant person the likes of myself could never be so privileged.” The Horikawa minister of the interior said, “I believe I have heard one at Iwakura.” The women said, “That’s a perfectly good answer. The major counselor’s calling himself insignificant was unfortunate.” Such where their evaluations.
A man should be trained in such a way that no woman will ever laugh at him. I once heard someone say that it was thanks to the instruction the Jodoji chancellor received as a boy from the Retired Empress Anki that he spoke so ably. The Yamashina minister of the left once said, “I feel embarrassed and nervous even when some wretched serving-girl looks at me.” In a world without women it would not make any difference what kind of clothes or hate a man wore; nobody would take the trouble to dress properly.
One might wonder, then, what exalted creatures women must be to inspire such fear in men. In fact, women are all perverse by nature. They are deeply self-centered, grasping in the extreme, devoid of all susceptibility to reason, quick to indulge in superstitious practices. . . .
2
Cause the madwoman at Iwakurato fall more deeply in love
O hototogisu
Hey, hototogisu! Go love
that perverse Iwakura woman.
Cheryl A. CrowleyWallace
Hey, hototogisu! Go love that perverse Iwakura woman
Hey, hototogisu! Go love that perverse Iwakura woman
Hey, hototogisu! Go love that perverse Iwakura woman
5
All the way I have comeall the way I am going
here in the summer field
I have walked, walked.I will walk, walk.Summer field!
Merwin & Lento Wallace
5
行行重行行xíng xíng chóng xíng xíng
行行重行行 from 古詩十九首 (Nineteen Old Poems)
6
An Idle Student by the Window
Whatever he learns goes inone ear and out the other
a firefly
scholarly brillianceissues forth from your bottom
firefly
Merwin & LentoCheryl A. Crowley
scholarly brilliance
issues forth from your bottom
firefly
Calligraphy and painting by Buson
8
Cicada chorustime for the head priest
to take his bath
the cicada are singing—abbot's
bath time
Merwin & LentoWallace
Cicada chorus
time for the head priest
to take his bath
Calligraphy and painting by Buson
9
summer shower—clutching the leaves of grass
a flock of sparrows
Ueda
10
Don’t wake me fromThis intoxicating dream
On this intoxicated night.”Welcome luck! (Go away demons!)”
YOI-YUME NO YOI-NE SAMASUNA.FUKU HA UCHI!
Wallace
10
Don’t wake me fromThis intoxicating dream
On this intoxicated night."Help! There are bats in the house!"
YOI-YUME NO YOI-NE SAMASUNA.FUKU HA UCHI!
Wallace
Don’t wake me from
This intoxicating dream
On this intoxicated night.
”Welcome luck! (Go away demons!)”
Calligraphy and painting by Buson
Don’t wake me from
This intoxicating dream
On this intoxicated night.
”Welcome luck! (Go away demons!)”
Calligraphy and painting by Buson
Autumn
12
at a flashof lightning, the sound of dew
falling from a bamboo
Ueda
12
at a flashof lightning, the sound of dew
falling from a bamboo
Ueda
petal after petalmountain roses flutter down:the sound of the rapids
(Basho)
13
over the sumo matchhe should never have lost
a pillow talk
Ueda
over the sumo match
he should never have lost
a pillow talk
Calligraphy and painting by Buson
over the sumo match
he should never have lost
a pillow talk
Calligraphy and painting by Buson
14
the willow is barethe clear stream has dried, and stones
lie scattered here and there
Ueda
the willow is bare
the clear stream has dried, and stones
lie scattered here and there
Calligraphy and painting by Buson
15
this piercing cold—in the bedroom, I have stepped
on my dead wife’s comb
Ueda
16
With ageeven the voice of the cricket
is sad
Wallace
With age
Even the voice of the cricket
Is sad
Calligraphy and painting by Buson
18
Upon Maruyama’s Request for a Caption to His Painting of a Black Dog
His bark comesfrom the darkness inside him
deep in the autumn night
Merwin & Lento
His bark comes
from the darkness inside him
deep in the autumn night
Calligraphy by Buson, painting by Maruyama
His bark comes
from the darkness
deep in the autumn night
Calligraphy by Buson, painting by Maruyama
21
Secluded house—The lord of this chrysanthemum:
Fox Spirit Hakuzōsu
Wallace
Secluded house—
The lord of this chrysanthemum:
Fox Spirit Hakuzōsu
Calligraphy and painting by Buson
Winter
29
You who pray to Buddha beating your gourdsyou are nobody at all
not even village priests
Merwin & Lento
You who pray to Buddha
beating your gourds
you are nobody at all
not even village priests
Calligraphy and painting by Buson
You who pray to Buddha
beating your gourds
you are nobody at all
not even village priests
Calligraphy and painting by Buson
33
In the night with my few teethI try to chew the ice
off the tip of my writing brush
baring my teethI moisten my frozen writing brush
—that sort of night
Merwin & LentoWallace
In the night with my few teeth
I try to chew the ice
off the tip of my writing
brush
Calligraphy and painting by Buson