Can you see the moon or not?
tsuki sabishi dō no nokiba no ame shizuku
from the temple's eaves
rain dripping
—Sōha
In August of 1687, Bashō took a trip to Kashima to see the harvest moon. As I've written in the past, moonviewing in the day in Japan was a big deal. Sōha and Sora went with him. When they got there, they were disappointed that it was raining on the day of the full moon. Early the next morning, however, the moon started to peak through the clouds, so Bashō quickly woke his companions and they all enjoyed the moonlight and sound of rain. It's unclear if Sōha wrote this the night before or in the morning.
Moon is an autumn kigo. On the traditional calendar the season changes were considered to happen at the peak of what we today would consider the previous season, so we are already into autumn by that reckening. The heat remains but it is starting to fade in the evenings. Often that fading heat brings lots of rain.
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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. |
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