Etsujin studied under Bashō and was one of his 10 greatest and most important disciples. He spent much of his life in Nagoya, which is close to where I live. Bashō once wrote of him that he loves wine and singing from Heike Monogatari when drunk. Are we starting to see a trend to these early great haiku poets yet?

I love this haiku. Here Etsujin gives us an event without overstatement nor does he tell us how to feel, he simply objectively presents a scene, one that all of us have faced or will face someday and one that we may not understand ourselves until it happens to us. This is something I had never considered when I was younger, but after my hair turned grey it was a little strange to have my parents see me that way. I wonder too how I will react when I am on the other side and see my son with grey hair someday.

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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1. That is, me! If you like this translation, feel free to use it. Just credit me. Also link here if you can. ↩