Hated Crow :: Haiku of Japan #82
ひごろ憎き烏も雪の朝哉
higoro nikuki karasu mo yuki no ashita kana
detestable crow
this snowy morning
he's beautiful
written by Basho
(Tr. David LaSpina)
(Print by Ohara Koson)
Those who live in places where it snows know the the beauty of the untouched morning snow. Snow may be annoying at times, but that first look... beautiful. Basho is so taken by the beauty of the morning snow that even the ugly, hateful crow is appealing.
❦
| Don't miss other great haiku in the Haiku of Japan series! |
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Recent Haiku
- 71 — Born Lucky
- 72 — Late New Year's
- 73 — New Year's Cleaning
- 74 — Dreams of Turtles
- 75 — An Early Spring
- 76 — Fan After Bath
- 77 — High High is the Snow?
- 78 — Sunset Desire
- 79 — Secret Dream
- 80 — Winter Game
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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. |
This is such a tough one to get my head around - trying to figure out how you could work out what Basho wants the words to say (clearly your Japanese is excellent!); since I love the beautiful crow (especially in his onomatopeic Japanese) but hate the snow. It gives much food for thought on the topic of universals and how when quietly meditative the beauty of snow has to become apparent. I am glad Basho, managed to see the corven family from my point of view for a moment... (I suppose I could emphasise if crows had pestered him all year long in his husbandry activities: the jackdaws can get on my nerves when I'm trying to feed the songbirds...)
Must say I find the use of the stark "detested" (or hateful, "nikuki") refreshing; goes to show how powerful words stand a better chance of flipping to the other side. Fancy calling a crow unelegant or ugly. It would be as bland as calling your girlfriend nice!
I don't think Basho was giving his own opinion about the crow when calling it detestable, he was simply giving the common description for the bird. Most people seem to dislike them, then and now. Basho himself was too in love with nature to hate anything of it.
This is indeed one of those more challenging ones to translate. Not because we can't tell what he meant, but because it is unstated. Do we leave it unstated in English or be a little more explicit? "Beautiful" is inexact. It is more of an appreciation for the bird. A zen-esque feeling of the bird belongs here in this scene and it wouldn't be complete without him, for we cannot have beauty without ugliness, no yang without yin. In this case I'm not sure an English reader could make the connection, unless they have studied Eastern philosophy (which most haven't).
Maybe I should have included this in my post ;) I was kind of in a hurry when I wrote it because I am fighting the flu and wanted to go to bed, hence the shorter description than usual.
Get well soon! How's flu for a challenge to stay zen! Only one thing for it: to undergo it.
This makes me want to get back into writing poetry. I think short form is probably the way to get my hand back in. Great post. Roll on Monday!