Japanese haiku by Basho

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.

A cuckoo calls

And suddenly….the bamboo grove

Lighted by moonbeams

Basho (1644-1694), Quoted with permission from Haiku Harvest, Translation by Peter Beilenson and Harry Behn, The Peter Pauper Press

Woodblock print by Kasamatsu Shiro, (1954), Japan Art Open Database. www.ukiyo-e.org