Yosa Buson Translations
Yosa Buson haiku translations
On the temple’s great bronze gong
a butterfly
snoozes.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Hard to describe:
this light sensation of being pinched
by a butterfly!
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Not to worry spiders,
I clean house ... sparingly.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Among the fallen leaves,
an elderly frog.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
In an ancient well
fish leap for mosquitoes,
a dark sound.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Flowers with thorns
remind me of my hometown ...
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Reaching the white chrysanthemum
the scissors hesitate ...
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
A kite floats
at the same place in the sky
where yesterday it floated ...
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Picking autumn plums
my wrinkled hands
once again grow fragrant
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
A silk robe, casually discarded,
exudes fragrance
into the darkening evening
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Whose delicate clothes
still decorate the clothesline?
Late autumn wind.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
An evening breeze:
water lapping the heron’s legs.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
gills puffing,
a hooked fish:
the patient
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The stirred morning air
ruffles the hair
of a caterpillar.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Intruder!
This white plum tree
was once outside our fence!
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Tender grass
forgetful of its roots
the willow
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Since I'm left here alone,
I'll make friends with the moon.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The hood-wearer
in his self-created darkness
misses the harvest moon
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
White blossoms of the pear tree?
a young woman reading his moonlit letter
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The pear tree flowers whitely:
a young woman reading his letter
by moonlight
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
On adjacent branches
the plum tree blossoms
bloom petal by petal?love!
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
A misty spring moon ...
I entice a woman
to pay it our respects
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Courtesans
purchasing kimonos:
plum trees blossoming
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The spring sea
rocks all day long:
rising and falling, ebbing and flowing ...
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
As the whale
dives
its tail gets taller!
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
While tilling the field
the motionless cloud
vanished.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Even lonelier than last year:
this autumn evening.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
My thoughts return to my Mother and Father:
late autumn
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Late autumn:
my thoughts return to my Mother and Father
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
This roaring winter wind:
the cataract grates on its rocks.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
While snow lingers
in creases and recesses:
flowers of the plum
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Plowing,
not a single bird sings
in the mountain's shadow
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
In the lingering heat
of an abandoned cowbarn
only the sound of the mosquitoes is dark.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The red plum's fallen petals
seem to ignite horse dung.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Dawn!
The brilliant sun illuminates
sardine heads.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The abandoned willow shines
between bright rains
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Dew-damp grass:
the setting sun’s tears
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The dew-damp grass
weeps silently
in the setting sun
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
White plum blossoms?
though the hour grows late,
a glimpse of dawn
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The poem above is believed to be Buson's jisei (death poem) and he is said to have died before dawn.
Lately the nights
dawn
plum-blossom white.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
In the deepening night
I saw by the light
of the white plum blossoms
?Yosa Buson, loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Our life here on earth:
to what shall we compare it?
Perhaps to a rowboat
departing at daybreak,
leaving no trace of us in its wake?
—Takaha Shugyo or Yosa Buson, loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Yosa Buson (1716-1783) was a Japanese poet and painter of the Edo period. Buson was a master of brief, startlingly clear and concise haiku/hokku. Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson and Kobayashi Issa have been called the "essential masters" of the Edo Era. Many haiku lovers would add Masaoka Shiki to create the "Great Four" of haiku. Japanese poets like Basho, Buson and Issa influenced many Western poets, including early English/American modernists such as Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot.
Copyright © Michael Burch | Year Posted 2020
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