This is a haiku which is not found in the major English translations
of Shiki's haiku, probably for the reason that Ad G. Blankestijn
gives: "[it] is unfortunately not very beautiful in translation..."

According to Blankestijn, there is a haiku stone with this haiku on
it just outside the JR Matsuyama station. For an interesting
discussion by Blankestijn of this haiku and Matsuyama Castle, go here
(and scroll down):

http://www.xs4all.nl/~daikoku/haiku/meguri/kuhi-22.htm

Gabi, your haiku certainly reads better than the other versions I've
read. Blankestijn says that "150,000 koku is a rather modest fief,
but Shiki was proud of his home town."

So how about:

it's spring!
when this was a castle town
it was a prosperous one!

I know, too wordy...LOL And I know the exclamation points aren't
literally justified, but to me they point up Shiki's pride in his
home town.

Larry


--- In translatinghaiku@yahoogroups.com, "Greve Gabi"
<gokurakuatworldkigo@...> wrote:
>
> haru ya mukashi sen gohyaku man goku no jooka kana
>
> "Spring season reminds me of the capital town of 150,000 goku."
>
> Masaoka Shiki
>
> http://www.infocreate.co.jp/hometown/matsuyam/haiku-e.html
>
> aaa. I do not know who did this translation, but it does not
reflect the
> kire after spring, and it uses the word GOKU as if a non-Japanese
reader
> would know what this means ...
>
> it's spring - in olden times
> the castle town of
> great riches
>
> (my first tentative rendering into English)
> any suggestions ?
>
> ...
> the richness of a domain in the Edo period was calculated in
barrels or
> bags of tax rice (koku, goku) and 150.000 barrels was quite a lot.
> I wonder how to translate this word for word into English and keep
it
> understandable and haiku-like ?!
>
> jooka , below the castle, is short for .. jooka machi .. , the
town at the
> feet of a domain,s caslte. Nowadays the word is often used with a
lot of
> nostalgia for the good old times in Edo period. The castle of
Matsuyama is
> right up on a large hill, overlooking the city and can bee seen
from many
> small streets in the town.
>
> Matsuyama and Masaoka Shiki go together in the Haiku World.
> Here are a few more LINKs
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/
>
> Greetings from Okayama, another jooka machi, about 3 hours drive
from
> Matsuyama ...
> http://www.amie.or.jp/daruma/Koraku-En.html
>
> GABI
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>