Note:
Gabor Terebess has translated 630 Basho’s haiku into Hungarian: http://terebess.hu/haiku/baso/terebess1.doc
To achieve this he has collected 10,000 English translations and identified each with the Japanese original (it took him two years).
From this extensive and valuable work Simply Haiku will select and feature 10 of Basho’s haiku in each issue.
PART III of Basho’s haiku
Hungarian translations by Gabor Terebess
English translations by David Landis Barnhill
青くてもあるべきものを唐辛子
aoku te mo / arubeki mono o / tōgarashi
zölden is ízes
de a csilipaprika
buzgón pirosul
green was / just right and yet / a red pepper.
青柳の泥にしだるる潮干かな
aoyagi no / doro ni shidaruru / shiohi kana
zöld fűzfagallyak
csak apálykor érnek
le az iszapba
a green willow / drooping into mud: / low tide.
あら何ともなや昨日は過ぎて河豚汁
ara nantomo na ya / kinō wa sugite / fukuto-jiru
nincs semmi baj
túléltem a tegnapot
gömbhallevestül
well—nothing's happened / and yesterday's come and gone! / blowfish soup
あらたふと青葉若葉の日の光
ara tōto / aoba wakaba no / hi no hikari
dicső pillanat
zsengezöld levélen
felragyog a nap
so holy: / green leaves, young leaves, / in sun’s light
荒海や佐渡に横たふ天の河
ara umi ya / Sado ni yokotau / Ama-no-gawa
tombol a tenger
Égi Folyó íve óvja
Szado-szigetet
stormy sea – stretching out over Sado, / Heaven’s River
霰聞くやこの身はもとの古柏
arare kiku ya / kono mi wa moto no / furu gashiwa
kemény jégverés
öreg tölgyfaként talán
megmaradhatok
listening to hail— / my self, as before, / an old oak.
有難や雪を薫らす南谷
arigata ya / yuki o kaorasu / minami dani
tiszta szerencse!
üde hótól illatos
a Déli-szurdok
so grateful - / perfumed with snow, / South Valley
朝茶飲む僧静かなり菊の花
asa cha nomu / sō shizukanari / kiku no hana
reggeli teát
kortyol egy szerzetes
krizantém csendjét
sipping morning tea, / the monk is peaceful: / chrysanthemum blossoms
朝顔に我は飯食ふ男哉
asagao ni / ware wa meshi kū / otoko kana
jó társaságban
hajnalkavirágokkal
reggelizem
one who breakfasts / with morning glories: / that's what I am
朝顔は下手の書くさへあはれなり
asagao wa / heta no kaku sae / aware nari
hajnalkavirág
sután festve is maga
a mulandóság
morning glory: / even when painted poorly, / it has pathos
David Barnhill is Director of Environmental Studies and Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. His translation of Bashō’s haiku, Bashō’s Haiku: Selected Poetry of Matsuo Basho (SUNY, 2004) includes over 700 haiku with a brief commentary on each. His book Bashō’s Journey: Selected Literary Prose by Matsuo Bashō (SUNY, 2005) is the most complete English translation of Basho’s prose, including all five travel journals, his one diary, and many of his haibun. David has also published several articles on Bashō’s spirituality and he teaches a course called “Japanese Nature Writing.”
Gábor Terebess was born in Szeged, Hungary, and lived as a political refugee in the sixties (living in France, USA, and Australia). He was ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk in Japan. After the change of regime in Hungary, he published his book on Zen, Folyik a híd(The bridge flows, 1990),and later started an Oriental publishing house. He also edits a Hungarian language haiku database (http://haiku.hu), and an international haiku database: http://terebess.hu/english/haiku/haiku.html). He's translated 3,000 haiku into Hungarian, and published 6 haiku books. English translations of his haiku by the Canadian-Hungarian poet, Jon Tarnoc can be read via:http://terebess.hu/english/haiku/terebess.html.