Haru, 春 is the Japanese word for Spring.

It is everyone’s favorite season. The willow trees are turning green, the cherry trees blossom, and the birds sing their joyful songs. Let us compare several Spring haiku written decades apart.

Haru kaze, 春風

First, 1668, the poet, simply known as Matsuo Munefusa, age 24.

春風に吹き出し笑ふ花もがな
haru kaze ni / fukidashi warau / hana mogana
A Spring breeze is blowing
I’m bursting with laughter
— wishing for flowers

Matsuo Basho, Spring, 1668

Next, Matsuo Basho, now three decades old, has changed from a joyous expectation to a mournful recognition of the passing seasons. Names must have been on his mind. In 1680, he was known as Tosei, the unripe peach. By now, 1684, he had gained a following in Edo. He had moved from the city-center to the more rural Fukagawa District, taken up residence in a simple cottage. A banana plant (Basho) was given to him as a housewarming gift, and this was the inspiration for his new name Matsuo Basho.

春なれや名もなき山の薄霞
haru nare ya / na mo naki yama no / usugasumi
Is it already Spring?
In these nameless mountains
And misty haze

Matsuo Basho, Nozarashi kikō, Spring, 1685

I have included the following (undated) haiku because it speaks of sakura, cherry blossoms, the one true sign of Spring. In Edo (Tokyo), Basho often went to the temple grounds of both Ueno and Asakusa to enjoy the cherry blossoms. Likewise, around Japan and on Lake Biwa there are spectacular displays of the popular spring blossom.

春の夜は桜に明けてしまひけり
haru no yo wa / sakura ni akete / shimai keri
This Spring Night
Ending with dawn
And cherry blossoms

Matsuo Basho, Spring, date unknown

Harusame, 春雨

The following haiku reminds one of Henry Wordsworth Longfellow’s “Into each life some rain must fall.”

Spring 1694, Matsuo Basho, now 51 years old, has returned to his cottage in the Fukagawa District in Edo. Basho wonders what he has to look forward to. Little does he know, it is his last spring. Matsuo Basho will die in November of 1694.

春雨や蜂の巣つたふ屋根の漏り
harusame ya / hachi no su tsutau / yane no mori
Spring rain
Dripping from a wasp nest
And a leaky roof

Matsuo Basho, Spring, 1694

Ukuraina ni heiwa o

The world over one experiences Spring with reverence, with hope for new beginnings, for peace the world over.

For Peace in Ukraine.

ウクライナに平和を.

Birds, busily singing
When, the sun, gloriously rising,
Ah, then, suddenly silent

Bashō no yōna, March, 2022