Dear Gabi,

Yes, your version makes sense. I think where Reichhold may have gone wrong in
her translation is in thinking that butteflies ONLY sip nectar from flowers. But
apparently some butterflies also like feeding on fruit.

Here is a link to a site that describes this behavior:

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/insects/butterfly3.htm

Here is some relevant material from the site:

It's easy to imagine butterflies as delicate insects flitting from flower to
flower in search of nectar. Their long proboscis allows them to reach deep into
flowers and retrieve the nectar found there. At first glance, the proboscis
doesn't seem suited to consuming any other type of food. While it's true that
sugary nectar is a primary source of energy for butterflies, they have lots of
other dietary needs. Butterflies need nutrients and minerals to fly and
reproduce, and many of these don't exist in the sweet liquids produced by
flowers.

Some butterflies also eat fruit. Some of these butterflies pierce the fruit's
skin and drain the juices from inside. Others drink the juices from the surface
of rotting fruit. Butterflies that prefer to drink from fresh fruit sometimes
have a pointed proboscis, making it easier to puncture the fruit's skin.


And here is a link to a site maintained by people who live on an old Tennessee
farm, that they call Butterfly Hollow Farm:

http://butterflyhollowfarm.com/journals2000may.html

Again, a relevant quote from the site:

I'm out early today picking up the fallen mulberries and emptying the blankets
covered in these superb treats [there is a picture of blankets laid under the
trees to catch the falling mulberries]. I don't think I'll ever pick a
blackberry again, with all their thorns, chiggers, sun etc. These mulberries
taste just like them… no actually better and fall from a tree. The only drawback
is that our butterflies love them just as much as we do. So the key is to get
out early before the sun wakes the butterflies up and fill our buckets.

[end of excerpt]

Would Basho, or someone living similarly, have been able to produce home-made
'soochinshu'? Rather than a hermit somehow feeling 'drunk' from watching the
erratic flight of a butterfly, it seems more likely that Basho is imagining that
the butterfly's erract flight is due to getting 'drunk' on the mulberries, as
would a hermit who would be drinking mulberry wine.

Wow. I just did a google search on the word 'sochinshu' and there is not a
single entry for it, at least in its romaji version. That is very unusual! I
think it's the first Japanese word in romaji that I've looked up on the internet
that produced no results. And a search for "Japanese mulberry wine" just
referred to it as "mulberry wine."

Larry


--- In translatinghaiku@yahoogroups.com, Greve Gabi <gokurakuatworldkigo@...>
wrote:
>
> Thanks for sharing your thoughts, dear Mariko san!
>
> kuwa no mi ya hana naki choo no yosute-zake
>
> mulberries without blossoms -
> they are the wine
> for a hermit butterfly
>
> ? does this make sense?
> Gabi
>
> >
> > Dear Gabi,
> >
> > It is obvious that this haiku has the butterfly dream of the ancient Chinese
> >  allegory in its background.
> >
> > Reichhold's comments sound OK.
> > In other words, if we regard the butterfly as hermit,
> > poor as he may be, he could be content with mulberry liquid/liquor;
> > like a butterfly fluttering among mulberry trees with no flowers,
> > the butterfly/hermit can savour the mulberry liquid/liquor.
> >
> > Doesn't mulberry liquor suggest dewdrops?
> > Doesn't the haiku suggest dewdrops and proper rice/fruit wine should
> > compete in the world of dew?
> > Doesn't this suggest a hermit might enjoy dewdrops like he might enjoy
> > rice or fruit wine?
> >
> > I'm not happy with the translation, either, but find it no easy to translate
> > this haiku; I've eventually come out with some similar lines.
> >
> > Mariko
> >
> >
> >
> > kuwa no mi ya hana naki choo no yosute-zake
> >
> > mulberry fruit
> > without flowers a butterfly
> > is a hermit's wine
> >
> > Matsuo Basho
> > Tr. Reichhold
> >
> > Reichhold's comment:
> > 1683---summer. 'Yosute-bito' is a euphamism for "priest." The idea is
> > that whoever lives behind a mulberry gate or fence is cut off from the
> > rest of the world. Basho changes 'bito' ("man, person") to 'zake', or
> > sake [the liquor] and keeps the connection to mulberries. There is a
> > wine made from mulberries called 'soochinshu', but Basho is so poor
> > that he can only get drunk by watching the flight of a butterfly. The
> > butterfly has no flowers to visit because the tree bears only fruit,
> > and thus Basho has no wine.
> > [end of comment]
> >
> > More about this is here
> > http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2011/06/mulberries-kuwa-no-mi.html
> >
> > Thanks to Larry for this information.
> >
> > I am not quite happy with this translation, ... any comments ?
> >
> > Gabi
> >
> >
>