afar a vast white cloud—but no!That was Yoshino's mount of flowering snow.
—TEISHITSU
THE DEVOTEE
My shanks grow thin? As long as they can climb,
Expect me, Yoshino, in blossom time.
—BASHÔ
THE POET
I came to praise the cherry-blossom: "Oh! . . .
Oh! . . That's all, upon Mount Yoshino.
—TEISHITSU
THE DAIMYO
The noble lord gets off his horse. And who
Makes him dismount? The cherry-blossoms do.
—ISSA
THE SAMURAI
No friends today—Oh, let me meet no friends
Until my leave for blossom-viewing ends!
—KYORAI
GOING HOME
White cherry-blossoms in the sunset blaze:
I stand, my breast against my staff, and gaze. . . .
—SÔ-A
SLIGHT INTERRUPTION
Ah, nightingale, with half your song expressed,
I leave for the next world—to hear the rest!
—AN ANONYMOUS PRISONER
CONDEMNED TO DEATH
FROM MY WINDOW AT TWILIGHT
A cloud of flowers. A booming temple-bell.
Ueno's or Asakusa's? Who can tell?
—BASHÔ
ATMOSPHERE
How still it is! The belfry's vibrant boom
Does not so much as stir the cherry-bloom.
—FUHAKU
AT THE FERRY
Through the spring rain a ferryboat is oared,
Paper umbrellas, high and low, aboard.
—SHIKI
THE EIGHT FAMOUS VIEWS OF ÔMI
Mist hid the other seven views. Ah well,
I heard the Mit Temple's evening bell!2
—BASHÔ
ON A JOURNEY
Wearied, and seeking shelter for the night—
Ah, these wistaria flowers refresh the sight!
—BASHÔ
LETTER AND SPIRIT
My ears had found the sermon dull and stale;
But in the woods outside—the nightingale!
—SHIKI
ON THE DEATH OF HIS CHILD
His life: a dream in spring, as brief as sad. . . .
Oh, pity me that I have not gone mad!
—RAIZAN
A STREET IN EDO
Through this shower in spring, at dusk dispersing,
A raincoat and umbrella stroll, conversing. . . .
—BUSON
BEFORE NIGHTFALL
With willows drooping overhead, they light
The lamps upon the palace gates tonight.
—SHIKI
THE SPRING FESTIVAL
What pains I took to hang my lantern on
The branch of cherry-blossom, where it shone!
—SHIKI
ROMANCE
Evening in spring: the fox's phantom played
A young and gallant prince in masquerade,3
—BUSON
BY STARLIGHT
How the racemes of white wistaria sway,
As though the night wind blew the Milky Way!
—HAJIN
THE CATCH
I shook my net where whitebait seemed to thresh:
A shoal of moonbeams slithered through the mesh.
—ÔTÔ
EXCAVATIONS BY NIGHT
At dawn my violets grew aslant: a hole
Was tunnelled underneath them by a mole.
—BONCHÔ
ON A HIGH PASS
Above the mountain's snow-white vapour floats
An airy voice: the skylark's rising notes.
—KYOROKU
NATURALLY
How heart-appealing, on the mountain-pass,
Are wild violets hidden in the grass!
—BASHÔ
AT NISHIGÔ RAPIDS
Has the cascade shaken with rushing sound
These yellow kerria petals toward the ground?
—BASHÔ
TRANSPARENT PRESENCE
A
