Japanese haiku by Shiki

The Japanese haiku is a poem seventeen syllables long, usually divided into three lines of five, seven and five syllables each, often infused with mystical zen awareness. Usually, the brief haiku leads the reader to visualise a season through a key word, and to associate other thoughts and imagery from one’s own experience, thereby inviting the reader to become a participant in creating joy from the poem.

Here is the dark tree
Denuded now of leafage….
But a million stars

Shiki (1866-1902), Quoted with permission from The Four Seasons, Translation by Peter Beilenson, The Peter Pauper Press

Woodblock print by Tsuchiya Koitsu (1934), Japanese Art Open Data Base, www.ukiyo-e.org

In celebration of trees, we bring you the second haiku with the kind permission of The Peter Pauper Press.

The Japanese haiku is a poem seventeen syllables long, usually divided into three lines of five, seven and five syllables each, often infused with mystical zen awareness. Usually, the brief haiku leads the reader to visualise a season through a key word, and to associate other thoughts and imagery from one’s own experience, thereby inviting the reader to become a participant in creating joy from the poem.

Here is the dark tree
Denuded now of leafage….
But a million stars

Shiki (1866-1902), Quoted with permission from The Four Seasons, Translation by Peter Beilenson, The Peter Pauper Press

Woodblock print by Tsuchiya Koitsu (1934), Japanese Art Open Data Base, www.ukiyo-e.org