H3019 Haiku by Buson - From far and near ...
by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase

From far and near,
Hearing the sounds of waterfalls,
Young leaves.

Buson

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(5 designs in catalog)

From far and near,
Hearing the sounds of waterfalls,
Young leaves. ^[1]

ochikochi ni taki no oto kiku wakaba kana	をちこちに滝の音聞く若葉哉
buson	蕪村

Buson paints an amazing scene of early spring where one is surrounded by the sound of waterfalls (rapids) but only sees the fresh new leaves. Clearly Miyamori ^[2] took this approach in his translation. On the other hand, because of the ambiguity in the original Japanese one could conclude that no one was there to witness the scene and it was the young leaves themselves listening to the waterfalls! Blyth takes this approach in his translation.^[3]

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Blyth suggests the translation:

Listening to waterfalls
from here and there:
The young leaves! ^[4]

Asataro Miyamori suggests the translation:

Hark! waterfalls are heard,
here and there, through young leaves. ^[5]

Nelson and Saito suggest the translation:

Far and near
The sound of waterfalls I hear -
Young leaves. ^[6]

Calligraphy Notes:

1) "Ochikochi" in modern Japanese is most commonly written in hiragana as おちこち. One also sees it in kanji as 遠近 (which literally combine the kanji for "far" and "near"). In these designs we stay with an archaic form which uses the hiragana を (normally read "wo") instead of the modern お (read "o") so it is をちこち. While written differently, both are pronounced "ochikochi".

2) The final "kana" can be written either in hiragana as かな or in kanji as 哉. The meaning is the same

Translation Notes:

1) をちこち (ochikochi) - distance; far and near; here and there

2) に (ni) - this is a Japanese part of speech indicating location.

Harold G. Henderson explains ni as, "A preposition with many uses (at, in, to, by, for, etc.). These are usually indicated sufficiently in the literal translations. It is, however, important to realize that when ni is used after words indicating places, there is no action at that place". ^[7]

3) 滝 (taki) - waterfall; rapids

4) 音 (oto) - sound; noise

5) 聞く (kiku) - to hear; to listen

6) 若葉 (wakaba) - new leaves; fresh verdue

7) 哉 (kana) - how!; what!; alas!

According to Harold G. Henderson kana is, "A special kireji used to mark the end of a haiku. It has an undefinable emotional effect, sometimes like that of a soft sigh, more often that of a preceding 'Ah!' or 'Oh!' It usually follows a noun that the first part of the poem has described. As normal Japanese sentences end with a verb, kana may be considered as in a sense substituting for it." ^[7]

Recommended Reading:

References:

^[1] Translation by Timothy L. Jackowski, Takase Studios, LLC.

^[2] Miyamori, Asataro (1932). An Anthology of Haiku Ancient and Modern. Tokyo: Maruzen Company, Ltd. 496.

^[3] Blyth, R. H. (1963) A History of Haiku Volume One. Tokyo. The Hokuseido Press. 245.

^[4] Blyth, R. H. (1963) A History of Haiku Volume One. Tokyo. The Hokuseido Press. 245.

^[5] Miyamori, Asataro (1932). An Anthology of Haiku Ancient and Modern. Tokyo: Maruzen Company, Ltd. 496.

^[6] Nelson, William. Saito, Takafumi (2006) 1020 Haiku in Translation: The Heart of Basho, Buson and Issa. South Carolina. BookSurge Publishing. 116.

^[7] Henderson, Harold G. (1958) An Introduction to Haiku. United States of America. Doubleday Anchor Books. 188.

Related Sites:

Jeffrey's Japanese <-> English Dictionary - This is an independent dictionary based on the Edict data maintained by Dr. Jim Breen of Monash University.

Haiku Source - A Selected Collection of Japanese Haiku - Includes a few English translations

Wikipedia - Haiku - Overview of Haiku including brief biographies of Japan's most influential poets

Moonset Literary Newspaper - Dedicated to the Poetic and Visual Studies of Japanese Art Forms

Copyrights are retained by the original authors and used here under the Fair Use Doctrine.
We encourage you to support the authors, as we have, by purchasing the referenced works.

H3019 Haiku by Buson - From far and near ... by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase

H3019 Haiku by Buson - From far and near ...
by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase