H3023 Haiku by Shiki – A pear tree is blooming …
by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase

A pear tree is blooming,
By a collapsed house,
on an old battlefield ^[1]

In reading this poem I always think of the landmarks in central Virginia indicating important battles from the civil war. Each time the landscape before me is breathtakingly beautiful. And it is so hard to imagine what had happened there in the past.

People are this way too. Everyone has had difficulties even though the scars don’t always show. Many times we only see the person as they are now, a pear tree in bloom, and we forget that each person has fought their share of battles.

Blyth suggests the translation:

By a house collapsed,
A pear tree is blooming;
Here a battle was fought. ^[2]

Calligraphy Notes:

1) ikusa is commonly written in kanji as 戦 and in hiragana as いくさ. I have used both in the designs.

2) Similarly I have used kuzure in both kanji as 崩れ and in hiragana as くずれ.

Translation Notes:

1) 梨 (nashi) means “pear” and, specifically, “pear tree”.

2) さく (saku) in this case means “to bloom”.

3) 戦のあと (ikusa no ato) meaning “ruins (remains) of a battle”. 戦 (ikusa) means “war; battle; campaign; fight”. あと (ato) in this case means “ruins; remains”.

4) 崩れ (kuzure) meaning “crumbling; collapse; ruin”.

5) 家 (ie) meaning “house; dwelling”.

References:

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

^[2] Blyth, R. H. (1949). Haiku, Vol. 1: Eastern Culture. Tokyo. The Hokuseido Press. 166.

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