蒼海の 浪酒臭し 今日の月
blue sea
waves smell of saké
tonight's moon
—Basho
(Tr. David LaSpina)
(sōkai no / nami sake kusashi / kyō no tsuki)
(print by Kawase Hasui)
In addition to the moon being a common topic for autumn, so is saké, which is traditionally enjoyed while watching the moon. Although Basho wrote many haiku on the topic of drinking saké (and getting drunk), he is not doing so now; rather, he is making a pun on the word tsuki, the word for moon which also sounds like the word for saké cup. The image is that the moon looks like a saké cup rising out of the ocean.
Having said that, perhaps he was enjoying some saké while composing this haiku.
Footnotes
†: Translation by David LaSpina
Don't miss the other great haiku in the Haiku of Japan series!
- Traveling to the inn
- Childless Woman
- Old Dancing Butterfly
- Seeing the Moon
- Checking the Scarecrow
- Skill of Insects
- The Spider Lilies
- A Thousand Green Mountains
- Falling Lead Enlightenment
- Lonely Night
- Her Day Off
- Autumn Crow
- Faint Footprints
- Alone on the Road
- Autumn Begins
- Early Morning Moon Viewing
- Mistaken for a Scarecrow
- The Galactic River
- The Love of Cats
- Autumn Waterfall
- The Thief and the Moon
- My Frozen Balls
Thank you for reading. :)
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 | David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. |