--- In translatinghaiku@yahoogroups.com, "Greve Gabi"
<gokurakuatworldkigo@...> wrote:
>
> white dew, shiratsuyu ...
>
> here is all we have so far now, big thank you to LARRY!
> http://wkdkigodatabase03.blogspot.com/2008/05/white-dew-
shiratsuyu.html
>
>
> GABI
>
> shiratsuyu mo kobosanu hagi no uneri kana
>
> not even spilling
> the white dew -
> swaying bush clover
>
> Basho, Tr. Gabi Greve


A few more shiratsuyu haiku:

shiratsuyu ni aun no asahi sashinikeri

On the white dewdrops
Shines the alpha and omega
Of morning sunlight.

Boosha, trans. Donald Keene


shiratsuyu ni shigo ken no komura kana

In the white dew,
Four or five houses,
A hamlet.

Shiki, trans. Blyth


shiratsuyu ni joudomairi no keiko kana

From the white dew-drops,
Learn the way
To the Pure Land.

Issa, trans. Blyth


shiratsuyu ya ibara no toge ni hitotsu-zutsu

White dew on the bramble;
One drop
On each thorn.

Buson, trans. Blyth


White dew--
one drop
on each thorn.

Buson, trans. Hass


shiratsuyu ni sabishiki aji wo wasururu na

Never forget
The lonely taste
Of the white dew.

Basho, trans. Blyth


shiratsuyu ya shinde yuku hi mo obi shimete

the white dew . . .
on the day when I die too
tying my obi

Mitsuhashi Takajo, trans. UVa Library Etext Center: Japanese Text
Initiative


Of course, Issa has more shiratsuyu haiku translated by David Lanoue
at his translation website.

And speaking of shiratsuyu, during WWII, the Japanese Navy named
various types of destroyers after various types of weather, and other
elements of nature, such as varous moon names, various wind names,
clouds, seasons. There was a class of destroyers called Shiratsuyu
(White Dew, Shimmering Dew), named after the lead ship of the class.
I suspect there were a lot of names of Japanese destroyers that could
be found as words used in haiku and other Japanese poetry.

Larry