Carpe Diem #885 without you: Stone Mountain, at Yamanaka, from this day on
companion gone
savoring of the journey
took a turn
lone footsteps
“…I felt deeply in my heart both the sorrow of one that goes and the grief of one that remains, just as a solitary bird separated from his flock in dark clouds, and wrote in answer:
from this day on
dew will erase the writing
on my hat
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)…”
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This is a fascinating translation you are working with. I am currently still dipping along with a translation by Donald Keene with artwork by Miyata Masayuki with original Japanese and english translation. Keene translates Basho’s response to Sora’s parting with;
today I shall wipe out
the words written in my hat
with the dew of tears
In the haiku group I met with the Sensei often translates more than one interpretation from English into Japanese and vice versa
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I like the idea of more than one translation. Yours is less of a puzzle, and I like that. More in tuned to an English translation I think. Especially if one is new to the genre like myself. I must do a dig for a copy of that translation. That would be good to have. Thanks for the introduction:) and your kind comments.
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I do know several translations of the haiku by Basho, not only in Dutch (my maiden language), but also in English. I use the translations by Jane Reichhold, because in my opinion she touches the essence of the beauty of Basho’s haiku.
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