Poetic Musings: Snow Falling Haiku by Kajiwara Hashin

no sky,

no land -- just

snow falling

Selected Haiku, Haiku International Association

  

Kajiwara Hashin (1864-?), translated by S. Kazuo, P. Donegan, and K. Tadashi

Commentary: This deceptively simple haiku is about the snow falling so ceaselessly (L3) that there is nothing but a "world of one color" (Basho's phrase): Looking up there is falling snow, and looking down there is fallen snow. The narrator is now in a snow-falling world where sky and land have disappeared (Ls 1&2). And enhanced by the effective use of enjambment, "just" in L2 adds emotional weight and psychological depth to the haiku.

This is an exemplar haiku about the act of "simply seeing -- seeing, simply."

Note: The following is one of Basho's most-loved winter haiku:

winter solitude

in a world of one colour

the sound of the wind

Butterfly Dream: Falling Snow Haiku by Kajiwara Hashin

English Original

no sky,
no land -- just
snow falling

Selected Haiku, Haiku International Association
 
Kajiwara Hashin (1864-?)
co-translated by S. Kazuo, P. Donegan, and K. Tadashi


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

不見天，
不見地 -- 只是
雪花飄落

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

不见天，
不见地 -- 只是
雪花飘落


Bio Sketch

Kajiwara Hashin was born in 1864, a disciple of Kyoshi and a druggist; much of his life is unknown. Although not included in any of the Japanese saijiki (books of season words), the haiku above is well-known outside Japan, and has been translated into several languages, such as, English, Flemish , Dutch, ..etc.