yosa buson summer, autumn, winter

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

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


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!)”


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


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


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


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


Calligraphy by Buson, painting by Maruyama

His bark comes

from the darkness


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


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


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


yosa buson summer, autumn, winter

Documents