With the cherry blossoms in mankai (full bloom) now in Japan, we take some time to contemplate their beauty through poetry.
The following are two excerpts from the just released Well-Versed: Exploring Modern Japanese Haiku (Japan Library/JPIC March 23, 2021) with commentary by Japanese haiku poet and critic Osawa Minoru (translated by Janine Beichman). The book walks the reader through Japan’s seasons presenting poetry for each time of the year and the significance of its poetic images. Reading poem translations with commentary is a great way to start to understand the nuances of Japanese poetry.
We hope you enjoy these cherry blossom haiku!
To quiet the heart of
the mountain god
the cherry blossoms opened
by Takada Chōi
Commentary: These cherry trees are flowering deep among the mountains, not down at the foot where people live. Humans almost never see them, but when the deity who presides over the mountain gazes on them, they do his heart good.
At one time the flowering of the mountian cherry blossoms was the time of an advance celebrations of a good rice harvest. This was based on the traditional poetic comparison of the cherry blossoms to snow. When snow lay deep in the mountains, the farmers could be sure of an abundant supply of snow meltwater in the coming months, which was necessary for the young rice plants to grow. The blossoms, because of their visual resemblance to snow, thus became prophets. With its slightly formal ceremonial quality, this poem reminds us of the old belief.
Chōi made a deep study of the history of the Shinto prayers called norito, and at one time served as the head priest of Minatogawa Shrine in Kobe.
Yamazumi o / suzushimu sakura / sakinikeri
Mountain god / quiet the heart cherry trees / bloomed
Flying through the sky
in a cluster—
a flurry of cherry blossoms
by Takano Sujū
Commentary: This poem unfolds almost like a riddle. What might follow, after the clustered mass that flies through the sky of the first two lines? Personally, I would be at a loss to reply. It cannot be birds—they can fly close together, but not close enough to appear as a solid clump. What about butterflies? If they were clustered in such a tight mass they would be unable to move.
Reading on, the unexpected answer comes: this is a dense mass of cherry blossom petals blown by a strong wind across the sky. Such flurries of petals are usually though of as light swirls lifted on a gust, but here they seem to be a single mass flying across the sky, as if they had a will of their own, making a strange spectacle. Seen through the swirling petals all around him, this flying cluster seems almost like the spirit of the blossoms in concentrated form.
This poem was composed at Yoshino, famous for its cherry blossom trees.
Sora o yuku / hito katamari no / hanafubuki
Sky moving through / a cluster of / flower flurry
Read a review of Janine Beichman’s translation of Beneath the Sleepless Tossing of the Planets, poems by Makoto Ōoka here.