TRANSLATIONS FROM MATSUO BASHO: TWO HUNDRED SELECTED HAIKU PART III
by Dr Tim Chilcott
21
[1684]
matsukaze no / ochiba ka mizu no /oto suzushi
[pine-wind’s / falling-leaves? water’s / sound is-cool]
are needles falling
as the wind blows through the pines?
cool sound of water
22
[1684]
nozarashi no / kokoro ni kaze no / shimu mi kana
[bones-exposed-in-a-field (acc.) / heart into wind’s / penetrate body]
I think of bleached bones
in a field; wind pierces my
body to the heart
23
[1684]
kumo kiri no / zanji hyakkei o / tsukushikeri
[cloud mist’s / short-time hundred-scenes (acc.) / exhaust]
in the mists and cloud
for a moment a hundred scenes
brought to fulfilment
24
[1684]
uma ni nete / zanmu tsuki tōshi / cha no keburi
[horse on sleep / lingering-dream moon distant / tea’s fire
dozing on my horse,
dream lingering, distant moon,
smoke from a tea fire
25
[1684]
misoka tsuki nashi / chitose no sugi o / daku arashi 1
[last-night-of-month moon is-not / thousand-year’s sugi (acc.) / hold windstorm]
last night of the month, no moon…
a thousand-year old cedar
caught in a windstorm
26
[1684]
wuta yumi ya / biwa ni nagusamu / take no oku
[cotton bow! / lute by console / bamboo’s interior]
cotton-beating bow,
as consoling as a lute
deep in the bamboos
27
[1684]
tsuyu tokutoku / kokorimi ni ukiyo / susugabaya
[dew drip drip / trial as floating-world / would-that-I-could wash]
dew dripping, dripping…
could I wash in it the dust
of the floating world
28
[1684-5]
yuki to yuki / koyoi sjiwasu no / meigetsu ka
[snow and snow / tonight twelfth-month’s / bright moon?]
snow is upon snow…
can tonight be the twelfth month’s
full and whitest moon?
29
[1684-5]
Spending a day at the seashore
umi kurete / kamo no koe / honoka ni shiroshi2
[sea darken / duck’s voice / faintly white]
the sea is darkening…
now a wild duck’s call,
faint and indistinct and white
30
[1685]
On the road to Nara
haru nare ya / na mo naki yama no / usugasumi
[spring is! / name also is-not mountain’s / thin-mist]
it’s spring now, yes spring!
above the nameless mountains
a faint haze and mist
1The first line of this haiku has seven, rather than five, syllables. This expansion is followed in the translation.
2 Bashō’s original text varies the syllabic count from 5/7/5 to 5/5/7. This variation is copied in the translation.
Reprinted from the web-site http://www.tclt.org.uk/: ‘Tim Chilcott LITERARY TRANSLATIONS'
Until his retirement, Tim Chilcott was Dean of Arts and Humanities at the University of Chichester, England. He has maintained a lifelong interest in English Romantic literature, particularly the work of John Clare, about whom he has written extensively. His other major research interest is literary translation, and his website devoted to translation can be accessed at www.tclt.org.uk. This currently comprises some forty major works of world literature, by over twenty different writers.