On May 2, 2006, at 5:49 AM, Greve Gabi wrote:

>>
>>>
>>> waga mono to omoeba karoshi kasa no yuki
>>>
>>> Kikaku (1661-1707)
>>>
>>>
>>> "My snow!"--when I think that,
>>> it weighs almost nothing
>>> on my umbrella-hat!
>>>
>>> --Henderson, "An Intrduction to Haiku."
>>>
>>> http://haikutopics.blogspot.com/2006/04/kikaku-waga-yuki.html
>>>
>>
>> it's quite light
>> when I think it's mine --
>> snow on my hat
>>
>> Kikaku / tr. G.S.
>>
>>
>> Grzegorz
>>
> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
>
> good one, Gregor san !
>
>
> Trying to translate this into German, the final line came up as
>
> Schnee auf meinem Strohhut
>
> strawhat, .. that was the first thought, because in my mind, I see
> these
> huge Asian straw hats of the farmers of now and yonder.
>
> but
>
> strawhat, in German and I suppose in English too, is some kind of
> summer
> feeling and would sound strange.
>
> we also have .. sedge hat ... and .. bamboo hat .. and even ..
> umbrella-hat ... ! in the translations so far.
> http://haikutopics.blogspot.com/2006/04/kikaku-waga-yuki.html
>
>
> kasa 笠 is in fact a straw hat or sedge hat
> http://www.pref.wakayama.lg.jp/prefg/060300/kougei/image/kasa2.jpg
>
> booshi (boshi) 帽子 was a headgear of aristocracy and government
> officials in
> olden times, now often used for HAT
> eboshi 烏帽子 is a special form of it
> http://www.shop-japan.co.jp/english-boku/image-e/eboshi.gif
>
> zukin 頭巾 is more like a hood
> craft.ne.jp/muromachi/ kageimg/kage20.jpg
>
> akazukin 赤頭巾 is the .. little red riding hood
>
>
> for today, that is all about the headgear in Edo. It is time to log
> off ...
> GABI
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>

One of the things I like about this poem that one person mentioned:
The conical shape of the Japanese straw hat calls to mind a mountain,
thus the hat covered with snow looks like a mountain covered with
snow, which enhances the feeling of burden to the person wearing it.
So when they think of it as their own hat, that helps to lighten
their burden, but if they think of the 'mountain' of the imagery as
belonging to them, then they must feel like a lord!

I really enjoy the Japanese version of this poem. The verse below is
not really a translation, but a verse that expresses the feeling I
get from this poem.

my own mountain!
this snow-covered hat

~K~




M. Kei <kujaku@...> is the Moderator for Kyoka Mad Poems --
humorous tanka -- <http://groups.google.com/group/kyoka>.

M. Kei is also the Editor of the Chesapeake Bay Saijiki (haiku
almanac) project at Worldkigo <http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/
2005/03/chesapeake-saijiki.html>.

"I was older then. I'm younger now." -- Barry Malzberg

--





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]