Let it Rain

Let it rain all day, just not today.

A drizzle, a sprinkle, a mist, a shower, April showers that bring May flowers, a steady shower, a downpour and a deluge like the one that Noah had, a thunderstorm, a thunder clapper, cats and dogs, into each life some rain must fall. Rain, rain, go away, come some other day, and when it comes let’s all hope for a passing rain…

A word, a name, the Way, the Dao

The Dao teaches us that things can have many names, that names change. So many names, so many words for many things. In a word, it seems much the same. And yet, one suspects, there is a difference.

“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare famously wrote. Shakespeare put this question in the mouth of Juliet, who observed that a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet. Of course, Juliet’s discourse was about the fact that for Romeo and Juliet, one a Montague, the other a Capulet, by birth, sworn enemies.

“Water of the Sky” a book by Miya Ando compiles 2,000 Japanese words for rain along with their English interpretations. To do so, she resorts to that which precedes rain, or what accompanies rain, its quantity, its sound, what is and what isn’t rain, of rain and man.

How charming, how thoughtful, what a good book to buy.

Given this, I wondered what Matsuo Basho thought of rain. As with Miya Ando, Basho heard the rain dripping through his roof, he was soaked by rain, and saw how rain froze on monkeys, how rain came in drizzles and downpours, and what it did to his beloved Banana (Basho) tree outside his front door. And with the help of ChatGPT I came up with this list:

Note. the word order is sometimes changed.

初雪 (hatsuyuki)

初雪や / 水仙の葉の / たわむまで
Hatsuyuki ya/ suisen no ha no/ tawamu made

First snow,
piling on the daffodil,
until it bends

— Hatsuyuki, literally, first snow, last snow, which is which? Is it the end of winter yet? It seems strange to start with this, but every gardener knows snow sometimes doesn’t know it is Spring.

雨 (ame)

雨の日や / 世間の人の / 見えぬ哉
ame no hi ya / seken no aki o / sakai-chō

A rainy day —
the people of the world
are nowhere to be seen.

– Ame, a good plain rain, when no seasonal nuance is needed.

春雨 (harusame)

春雨や / 蓬を延ばす / 草の道
harusame ya / yomogi o nobasu kusa

Spring rain—
lets the mugwort grow
along the grassy path.

– Harusame, Spring rain, ah, soft, gentle rain that nourishes all life. And why the mugwort? Like parsley and cilantro, it has a medicinal quality, it is a non-alcoholic digestif. Basho welcomed it as he was plagued with stomach issues later in life.

五月の雨岩檜葉の緑いつまでぞ

五月雨 (samidare)

五月雨を / 集めて早し / 最上川
Samidarewo/ atsumete hayashi/ mogamigawa

This summer rain,
it gathers, rushing quickly,
— the Mogami River.

– Samidare, literally, the rain in the fifth month (May). When it rains, it leads to floods and rising rivers and an exciting ride down the Mogami. Compare the slightly different 五月の雨, gogatsu, no ame, literally, the rain in the fifth month (May). In poetic readings, the phrase is transformed into satsuki no ame.

五月の雨
岩檜葉の緑
いつまでぞ
Satsuki no ame / iwahiba no midori / itsumade zo

The rain in May,
splashes on the rocks keeping the cypress green.
— how long will it last?

This unsatisfactory translation refers to the majestic cypress trees that grow dense and think in Japanese forests. Iwahiba 岩檜葉, the cypress tree. The “how long will it last” is an allusion to the fact the wood of the cypress is used in Japanese temples.

時雨 (shigure)

初時雨 / 猿も小蓑を / ほしげ也
Hatsu Shigure / Saru Mo Ko Mino O / Ho Shige yě

A late autumn rain,
Oh, a monkey needs and want
A warm winter coat

– Shigure, it has come to mean a cold, intermittent rain in late autumn or early winter. One that catches that poor monkey unprepared and needing a winter coat.

夕立 (yūdachi)

夕立や / 草葉をつかむ / むら雀
Yūdachi ya/ Kusaba o tsukamu/ mura suzume

grasping blades of grass,
in a sudden summer shower
— a quarrel of sparrows

– Yudachi, hurry home, don’t be caught in a sudden evening downpour

霧雨 (kirisame)

霧雨や / 日暮れに残る / 海の色
Kirisame ya/ higure ni nokoru/ umi no iro

Amidst the mist,
the color of the sea, at dusk
still remains.

– Kirisame, literally, a misty rain, or the mist itself, not a heavy or steady rain, but just a very little, letting the sunlight color the sea and sky.

村雨 (murasame)

村雨や / 釣瓶落としの / 水の音
Murasame ya/ tsurube otoshi no/ mizu no ote

Sudden squall, ouch —
water pounding
dropping in a copper bucket.

– Murasame, literally, a village rain. Over time it has come to mean sudden squall. Basho is at home, and has to contend with a leaky roof. 水の音, mizu no ote will make another appearance in Basho’s well-known frog in the old pond haiku.

雪 (yuki)

雪と雪 / 今宵師走の / 名月哉
Yuki to yuki/ koyoi shiwasu no/ meigetsu kana

Snow, let it snow,
all evening long in December
— what a beautiful moon!

— Yuki, yuki, Let it snow, let it snow, but let the moon shine through.

深雪 (miyuki)

深雪や / 庵の柱の / きしむ音
Miyuki ya/ an no hashira no/ kishimu oto

The snow is so deep
it buries my humble hut
beneath its creaking noise.

— Miyuki, Deep frigid snow, the kind to bring the world to a stop.

Haiku in Latin

rider on horseback in the snow, hiroshige

There is no reason, one supposes, Haiku can’t be written in Latin. Is there a reason why it should? Why it shouldn’t?

Haiku in Latin,
Is there a reason,
Why it should?

Haiku latine scripta,
Estne causa,
Quidni debet?

Caeli sereni,
Aqua lucet in rivo,
Vox avium cantat.

Serene skies,
Sunlight shimmering in the stream,
The sound of birds singing.

This is not the case today, as it is snowing cats and dogs, a metaphor that makes no sense. It isn’t supposed to for to snow cats and dogs would be very unusual which is what the weather is.

Nix cadens durior,
Arbor ramis frangentibus,
… Tum silentium.

Snow falling hard,
Tree branches breaking,
… Total silence.

As for the white winter weather, Matsuo Basho had this to say:

Wintry weather,
When the world is one color,
One hears the sound of wind.

冬枯れや世は一色に風の音
Fuyu gare ya yo wa hito iro isshoku ni kaze no oto
— Matsuo Basho,

**Fuyugare ya yo wa hito iro isshoku ni kaze no oto**

Shiwasu

The Full Moon of December

Japan’s Full Moon of December is scheduled to appear on the 27th of December, 2023. That is, unless it is snowing and snowing.

雪と雪今宵師走の名月か
Yuki to yuki koyoi shiwasu no meigetsu ka

It snows and snows.
Tonight’s the full moon of December,
One wonders
Matsuo Basho, Winter 1684

Comedians say jokes with k sounds, sound funnier and funnier the more k’s you say. Basho’s haiku has four k’s. Ka, I wonder.

December, 1684

Home for the Holidays
Ueno, Mie province
Basho, age 40

In 1684, Basho returned to Ueno in Mie province, the place of his birth. There he and some of his disciples work on a collection of haiku, published under the name Winter Collection.

[Yuki (snow, snows) to (and) yuki (snows) koyoi (tonight) shiwasu (December by the lunar calendar) no (possessive particle, of) meigetsu (full moon) ka (interrogative, one wonders)]

Shiwasu

Because its December,
I am rushing,
getting my shopping all done.
Bashō no yōna, December 2023

In the Japanese lunar calendar, the twelfth month is called Shiwasu, literally, the master, the teacher, the monk is running, trying to get everything done.

Holidays

We (here in America) have Christmas, the Japanese have dozens of celebrations during December. One of the most beautiful are the Lantern Festivals (held several times a year). No wonder there is pandemonium in rushing to get everything done.

雪と雪今宵師走の名月か
Yuki to yuki koyoi shiwasu no meigetsu ka

Snowy Mt. Hira and Mikami

比良三山　雪さしわたせ　鷲の橋　

Hira Mikami yuki sashi watase sagi no hashi

Snowy Hira and Mikami
For the moment, encircled
A bridge of white herons
Matsuo Basho, Otsu on Lake Biwa, looking west to the Hira Mountains

Snowy Mount Hira, artist, Utagawa Hiroshige, 19th century, image source The Met

A bridge of birds

A bridge of birds is one of those images one comes across while walking along a lake or in a wooded field. It is a magical image, one that is fleeting. When the birds are geese, the flock noisy chatters overhead, making a familiar V-shaped formation that look like an arched bridge. Herons are stragglers, silently flapping their wings,to the accompaniment of a swooshing sound.

Soon gone and silent again.

Herons often fly alone but can on rare occasion be seen in flocks. It is a rare sight, one that Matsuo Basho enjoyed while making a day trip to Otsu on the southern shore of Lake Biwa. Basho chose Otsu as his burial place, giving this haiku added meaning.

Lost in Translation

Hira and Mikami, 比良三山, snow covered Hira mountains and Mt. Mikami. They lie on opposite sides of Lake Biwa.

Yuki, 雪, snow.

Sashi watase, さしわたせ, for the moment, plus, joined or encircled.

Sagi no hashi, 鷲の橋, literally a bridge of white herons. The No, の particle links two nouns together to show a connection, and form a single image, a bridge of birds. One does not have to assume the herons are white (Shirasagi, 白鷺), but it makes for a prettier image.

[All images in the public domain, source The Met.]

Sleet

Hiroshige, Meguro Drum Bridge and Sunset Hill, 1857

On everyone
It sleets, you know, even the inn
Becomes cold

On everyone
It sleets, you know, even the inn
Is freezing

Hitobito wo
Shigureyo yado wa
Samuku tomo

人々を　しぐれよ宿は　寒くとも

Winter of 1689

If this was (as I suppose it was) written in the winter of 1689 at a poetry gathering with Bashō’s disciples and friends in Ueno, Bashō’s hometown, then I suppose the general feeling was both warm and chilly as the winter sleet made even the inn where they had gathered cold. The timing of the gathering was the culmination of Basho’s celebrated Journey to the North. It was not a journey that Matsuo Bashō believed that he would survive, and no doubt the friends at the gathering were eager to hear the details.

So much so that the sleet and the cold sharpened the tales that Bashō told.

Thoughts on English translation

Shigure 時雨 (しぐれ) may mean a driving rain, sleet. There is a thorough discussion on the World Kigo Database. The addition of the suffix yo よ is a nuanced “I say” or “you know”. The sleet, as you know, is so cold even the inns and houses feel it too.

Samuku tomo 寒くとも becomes cold, is freezing.

One is tempted to interpolate at this point. Shigure might also mean to figuratively shed tears at the coming together of the friends at the inn after Basho’s long journey to the north. One is also tempted to think of the symbolism of the quick winter rains as a metaphor for Thomas Hobbes’ (1588 – 1679) expression that life is “nasty, brutish, and short”.