bush warbler
has dropped his hat
camellia

– Matsuo Bashō

leave aside
literary talents
tree peony

– Matsuo Bashō

coming to the eye
especially at this time
May’s Mount Fuji

– Matsuo Bashō

morning glories
ignoring the revelers
in full bloom

– Matsuo Bashō

no doubt
flowers of the sea waters
springtime on the bay

– Matsuo Bashō

crane feathers
in a black robe
clouds of flowers

– Matsuo Bashō

the cloud’s base
Mount Fuji shaped as a cedar
grows thicker

– Matsuo Bashō

earliest spring
selling plum flower wine
the fragrance

– Matsuo Bashō

growing old
one does not even know it
after forty

– Matsuo Bashō

waterfall blossoms
will be a souvenir
for my drinking friends

– Matsuo Bashō

earliest spring
selling plum flower wine
the fragrance

– Matsuo Bashō

#sakura #basho

A famous old Basho haiku for cherry blossom season

花の雲 鐘は上野か 浅草か

Happiness in the Japanese culture is always alloyed with melancholy.

My cherry tree has not blossomed yet, spring has been late in coming.

Hana no kumo == clouds of flowers
Kane ha == Is this bell
Ueno ka Asakusa ka == in Ueno or Asakusa?

Basho lived in a hut along the Sumida river: Tokyo has swallowed it up. But in his poems, the old master captured moment.

first blossoms
seeing them extends my life
seventy-five more years

– Matsuo Bashō

bush warbler
has dropped his hat
camellia

– Matsuo Bashō

in all directions
the chopped herbs are
confused

– Matsuo Bashō

surely it is spring
in the nameless mountains
a thin haze

– Matsuo Bashō

honorable figure
I will bow down to
rabbit-ear iris

– Matsuo Bashō

on the grassy plain
it’s about one inch tall
the deer’s voice

– Matsuo Bashō

Goddess of Mercy
the temple roof overlooks
a cloud of blossoms

– Matsuo Bashō

these villagers
all are descendants
of flower guards

– Matsuo Bashō