Selections from the Penguin Book of Japanese Verse

Kobayashi Issa

The world of dew is
A world of dew... and yet,
And yet...

*

A world of dew:
Yet within the dewdrops –
Quarrels.

Priest Saigyō

On Mount Yoshino
I shall change my route
From last year's broken-branch trail,
And in parts yet unseen
Seek the cherry-flowers.

*

At the roadside
Where a clear stream bubbles
In the shade of the willows,
'Just for a while', I said,
And still have not gone.

Senryū

In the beautiful woman,
Somewhere or other
The wife finds flaws.

*

After he's scolded
His wife too much,
He cooks the rice.

*

A horse farts:
Four or five suffer
On the ferry-boat.

*

The morning after she's gone
He's very busy
Just finding everything.

*

The prostitute, too,
When the game is slow
Changes her name.

*

Judging from the pictures,
Hell looks the more
Interesting place.

*

Glaring glumly at the sky,
Pecking at their packed lunch
At home.

*

When her daughter
Tightens her belly-band,
Mother's tension slackens.

Yosano Akiko

You never touch
This soft skin
Surging with hot blood.
Are you not bored,
Expounding the Way?

*

Spring is short:
Why ever should it
Be thought immortal?
I grope for
My full breasts with my hands.

*

No camellia
Nor plum for me,
No flower that is white.
Peach blossom has a colour
That does not ask my sins.

Translated by Geoffrey Bownas and Anthony Thwaite