A skylark singing, in the midst of its song, a pheasant squawking! . A skylark singing, to the sound of a pheasant drumming along
雲雀鳴く中の拍子や雉子の声 Hibari naku / Naka no hyōshi ya / Kiji no koe — Matsuo Basho, Spring, 1690 or 1691
Hibari naku (the skylark sings) Naka no hyōshi ya (in the middle of the song!) Kiji no koe (a pheasant calls)
Two interpretations are possible (or more). In both of them the skylark is whistling its sweet tune. In version one, the pheasant interrupts with its harsh squawk. In version two, the pheasant is beating its wings in rhythm to the skylark’s tune. Version two is harmonious. Version one is more lifelike, considering friends get along, but friends like to argue. In the middle of a quiet conversation, someone shouts out.
By 1690, Basho was getting tired of friends.
It is unclear as to whether this haiku was written in 1690 or 1691.
In May of 1689, Matsuo Basho made his well known five month long journey into Japan’s northern interior (Oku no Hosomichi). Before leaving he had expressed misgivings about such an adventure and even had forebodings of death. (“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”) But the trip came off without any major mishaps and Basho arrived near Kyoto, then. at year’s end, went to rest at Zeze 膳所, Ōtsu, on Lake Biwa, north of Kyoto.
Surprise, here was the crow, the symbol of death.
何にこの師走の市にゆく烏 nani ni kono shiwasu no ichi ni yuku karasu
what is this? December in the city market — a crow
Matsuo Basho, age 46, at Zeze 膳所, Ōtsu, on Lake Biwa, north of Kyoto, Winter, 1689 元禄2年
A similar theme is found in ancient Babylonian texts. See W. Somerset Maugham’s retelling in The Appointment in Samarra. Crows made their appearance in Noh plays Basho attended.
The crow can be ubiquitous in major cities if garbage is left out. But Japan’s Edo period had no such problem. There was pretty much no garbage because anything that could be got recycled. Old paper, food, even human excrement was picked up by collectors and sold or reused.
Notes on Translation
Nani ni kono, what is this, what!
Shiwasu, the name for the lunar month of December.
Yuku, going, coming to
Karasu, a crow. Crows abound in ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock art and Basho utilized the crow in several haiku. The crow can be a mark of rebirth, as it has historically cleaned up after battles consuming dead flesh. For the same reason, it can symbolize death. As anyone who has been in Bruges, Belgium knows, it can be a noisy messy bird in the mornings and evenings.
Be careful where you step and take your shoes off when you go home.
nani ni kono shiwasu no ichi ni yuku karasu
Image from the Edo Period collection of the Metropolitan Art, (public domain). Inrō with Crows on Tree in Moonlight (月下鴉蒔絵印籠)
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