一葉散る咄ひとはちる風の上 嵐雪
hito ha chiru totsu hito ha chiru kaze no ue
one leaf falls
alas! another
on the wind
—Ransetsu
(trans. David LaSpina[1])
This succinct reflection on our transient world is from Ransetsu, who was one of Bashō's most able students. He started life as a samurai before becoming a poet.
In haiku-code, "one leaf" can have the meaning of a Paulownia tree. Paulownia trees are much beloved in the haiku world because they hold 5, 7, and 5 buds, an uncanny connection to the poetic verse.
My translation of the second line is a bit more Western than Japanese, implying a sorrow that is there but is a bit more complicated. The feeling is mono no aware (物の哀れ) which is a gentle sadness, but acceptance, at the impermanence of life. We don't really have a term that adequately sums up this feeling in English, so the sorrowful "alas" may be closest.
In the original, the first word of the second line—totsu—has a special meaning. It is an exclamation spoken by Zen Buddhists when enlightenment is achieved. It is also the sound a paulownia leaf makes as it hits the ground upon falling, giving this a double meaning of the leaf hitting the ground but also of the scene and the feeling of the scene leading to satori—a sudden enlightenment that hits as a lightning strike. We might imagine the figure silently and without thought watching the leaf blow from the tree and settle on the ground, then—SNAP—the sound of it settling causes the figure's mind to break, to shift out of logical, rational thought, to suddenly understand, in a sudden awakening that is enlightenment (or that the Zen Buddhists call satori).
As usual with the wordplay in Japanese poetry, it is difficult to articulate this double meaning within the poem itself.
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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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