a childless woman
tenderly she touches
the little dolls for sale
—Ransetsu

うまず女の雛かしづくぞ哀なる
(umazume no hina / kashizuku zo / aware naru)

Ransetsu was a student of Basho as well as one of his closest displicines. Basho thought very highly of him and once wrote, "I cannot equal Ransetsu in poetical austerity."

Childless Woman is perhaps his most famous haiku. You can imagine in your mind the sad woman who was denied the pleasure of having her own kids, looking longingly at the dolls, gently touching them while imagining what it might have been like to have her own baby. It gives us a very poignant image.

*: Woodblock print is by Mizuno Toshikata. It is titled The Fourth Month: Woman of the Enkyō Era (卯月延享頃婦人), from the series Thirty-six Elegant Selections (三十六佳撰)

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org.