鳥のうちの鷹に生まれし汝かな
tori no uchi no taka ni umareshi nanji kana
you had the fortune
to be born a hawk
—Hashimoto Keiji
You can feel Hashimoto's love for hawks in this haiku. He wrote a number of haiku on hawks. How lucky to be born a hawk rather than some lowly other kind of bird. You can understand his love for them—hawks are pretty cool!
The kigo (season word) here is hawk (taka, 鷹). It is a kigo for all winter. I know hawks were used for hunting in the Edo era (1603-1868), but beyond that I don't know enough about them to say why they are a winter kigo, and my saijiki doesn't give any details on that. If anyone here is more familiar with birds, maybe you can make a guess why this is. If you do, post it in the comments.
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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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