You’ve given me something to talk to my father-in-law about tonight.
I’m going to ask him, but maybe you can shed some light in this for me too. What does the かな way of ending a haiku mean? Is it similar to the modern use of saying かな, like adding a “I wonder” or “Perhaps” or “Maybe” to a thought?
I’m also curious about おぼゆる. Is that describing the haziness of the moon and acting like a supporting detail to the kigo, further anchoring the poem in late spring?
I tried my hand at translating this too, and have a totally different result. I wonder if I’m misunderstanding the particle usage. I once had a conversation with a literary Japanese man and he quizzed me on the meanings of sentences that were the same except for the change of one particle, and the meanings were vastly different.
I have a hard time understanding if the moon is the ficus of this poem or the wisteria.
Anyway, here’s my attempt at translating it.
The wisteria’s
color and beauty, like the
distant moon, perhaps.
-or-
The charm of the moon,
distant and hazy, like the
wisteria perhaps.
RE: Moonlight & Wisteria ~ Haiku of Japan