Modern masterpieces by Japanese haiku poets

Original is here
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/language/20060110TDY13001.htm

by Susumu Takiguchi, Special to The Daily Yomiuri

Today we will turn once again to Japanese masters and look at some of their
works. (All English translations by Takiguchi)


Tsubaki Hoshino (1930-)

hototogisu/naku kata no mado/akete oku


I leave the window open

where a cuckoo is singing




One of the most influential haiku poets living in Japan today, Tsubaki is a
quintessential neoclassical haijin. Hototogisu, a cuckoo, is also the name
of the school and the celebrated haiku magazine her grandfather, Kyoshi,
founded, as well as one of the most frequently used kigo seasonal words. The
bird is almost a symbol of the haiku life.


yu--Fuji ni/eda sashi-nobete/kaeri-bana


a branch stretching

toward the evening Mt. Fuji,

a bloom out of season



Reverence for the most sacred mountain in Japan is also a form of reverence
for Japan itself, its past, its culture and values. Cherry blossom are also
revered. Put the unseasonable bloom in winter against the view of the
mountain in the evening sun, the sense of reverence is so much more
heightened. The branch is a metaphor of the author herself and of the
sentiment of all Japanese people. This haiku epitomizes the essence of
neoclassical haiku, or even haiku itself, of the self-contained people of a
self-contained nation.


Kamakura wa/ nami no oto yori/ake yasushi


in Kamakura

dawn breaks from the sound of waves,

getting earlier and earlier



Kamakura is where Kyoshi lived and worked most of his life after leaving his
hometown, Matsuyama. Tsubaki and her son, Takashi, have founded a haiku
museum there in honor of Kyoshi and of Tsubaki's mother, Tatsuko. The museum
has become a center of haiku studies and composition. As the haiku
indicates, residents of this coastal town are always conscious of the sea.
Kyoshi founded a new haiku magazine, Tamamo, and gave it to Tatsuko to run.
Now it is run by Tsubaki and Takashi.

Read the rest on the LINK quoted above.

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I met Tsubaki sensei a few times in Kamakura myself. She is a most
energetic, remarcable person!

TSUBAKI is a kigo in our Database

http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2005/03/camellia-tsubaki.html

Gabi

http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/




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