Hidden Grey Hair // Haiku of Japan #32

行く年や親に白髪をかくしけり
yuku toshi ya oya ni shiraga wo kakushi keri

The ending year...
From my parents I hide
my grey hair
—Etsujin

(Tr. David LaSpina)

(Print by Kawase Hasui)

Etsujin studied under Basho and was one of his 10 greatest and most important disciples. He spent much of his life in Nagoya, which is close to where I live. Basho once wrote of him that he loves wine and singing from Heike Monogatari when drunk†. Are we starting to see a trend to these early great haiku poets yet?

I love this haiku. Here Etsujin gives us an event without overstatement nor does he tell us how to feel, he simply objectively presents a scene, one that all of us have faced or will face someday and one that we may not understand ourselves until it happens to us. This is something I had never considered when I was younger, but after my hair turned grey it was a little strange to have my parents see me that way. I wonder too how I will react when I am on the other side and see my son with grey hair someday.

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Footnotes:

†: Which is one of the most important and most beloved epics in Japan. And incidentally, it plays a role in the Japanese ghost story I told not so long ago.

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Don't miss other great haiku in the Haiku of Japan series!

#1–10 — Haiku of Japan, Collection #1
#11 — Her Day Off
#12 — Autumn Crow
#13 — Faint Footprints
#14 — Alone on the Road
#15 — Autumn Begins
#16 — Early Morning Moon Viewing
#17 — Mistaken for a Scarecrow
#18 — The Galactic River
#19 — The Love of Cats
#20 — Autumn Waterfall
#21 — The Thief and the Moon
#22 — My Frozen Balls
#23 — Saké Waves
#24 — Friends with the Moon
#25 — Falling Flower
#26 — Winter Rain and No Hat
#27 — Sleeping Boy
#28 — Reward of Persimmons
#29 - Chestnut Worm
#30 - Drunken Leaf Watching
#31 — Am I a Butterfly or a Man?

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Thank you for reading. :)

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I post one photo everyday, one translated haiku, and misc things such as videos, more Japanese history, and so on. Let me know if there is anything about Japan you would like to know more about or would like to see.

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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.