--- In translatinghaiku@yahoogroups.com, "Greve Gabi"
<gokurakuatworldkigo@...> wrote:
>
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> > A friend, now living in the Isle of Man, has sent me an absolutely
> wonderful
> > book, "The British Museum Haiku" edited by David Cobb(the British
Museum
> > Press, London, 2006). The book contains haiku written in hiragana,
> > transcribed in Romaji and translated into English, along with
Japanese
> > artwork from the British Museum collections.
> >
> > One of the haiku printed in this jewel of a book I found most
intriguing.
> > It's by Suzuki Masajo (born 1906), and in transliterated
Japanese, it
> reads:
>
> > **hito wa nusumedo/mono wa nusumazu/sudare maku**
>
> > The translation (by Lee Gurga and Miyashita Emiko) is:
>
> > I have stolen a man/ but never a thing of value/ I roll up the
bamboo
> blind
>
> > I find it hard to grasp what Ms.Suzuki is trying to say here.Any
ideas? It
> > looks like a beautiful, if rather peculiar haiku, but I have
seldom seen a
> > haiku so obscure.
>
> > Cristian
> > **
>
> Dear Cristian,
> here is now a bit more on this haijin and an alternative
translation by
> Susumu Takiguchi
>
> I may have stolen men,
> but I have never stolen a thing
> winding up the rattan blind
>
> 1973, Masajo (Tr. Susumu Takiguchi)
>
> http://haikutopics.blogspot.com/2007/01/masajo-suzuki.html
>
>
> I hope this will help you understand this famous haiku poet! She
had a very
> active love life !
> GABI
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

"Rolling up the bamboo blind" may suggest the aftermath of a night of
love. A court lady rolling up a bamboo blind on a snowy landscape is
a classic subject going back to a poem by Po Chu-i, which I don't
have at my fingertips at the moment.

Bamboo blinds also figure prominently in The Tale of Genji and The
Pillow Book of Lady Sei Shonagon. Suzuki Masajo may be making an
allusion to classic Japanese literature.

Anyone have any scholarly thoughts on this?

Larry