1020 Haiku in Translation: The Heart of Basho, Buson and Issa [Paperback]

Poetry, it is said, is what disappears in translation. This may often be true, for patterns of rhythm and sound in a poem can seldom be carried over into another language, even if the translator be a poet.

Happily, this is not a problem in _1020 Haiku in Translation: the Heart of Basho, Buson and Issa_, 2006. Translated by Takafumi Saito and William R. Nelson. Artwork by Munetaka Sakaguchi. The simple patterns of everyday speech, and the utterances of things and places and feelings are brief, yet in their simple imagery and emphasis, the poems offer us at least sparks of awareness of the here-now presence in life, and at best grant us a revelation, a brief kind of surprise, an overwhelming openness.

The poesy of Japanese haiku is preserved, not in the 5-7-5 pattern, but through strong-weak stress patterns. The Japanese count of seventeen syllables in three lines (5-7-5) is naturally rendered in English differently, but still true to the original. Basho's famous frog haiku becomes: "An old pond - / A frog dives in / Water sound." Because of such apparent simplicity, schoolchildren around the world have been impelled, one believes, rather than driven, to learn and appreciate haiku - and to write them!

For children see, too, the variety of content in haiku. The poet Issa writes, "Don't swat it! / The fly is rubbing / Its hands and legs." This haiku is found in the book, _1020 Haiku in Translation: the Heart of Basho, Buson and Issa_. This anthology does not only include well more than others of the three masters' poems but also devotes many pages to helpful supplementary information not readily found in other collections.

Non-Japanese readers who possess books with some of these poems may wish to compare the English translations in them with those in this new and generous volume for their sometimes interesting differences.

In the Biographical Notes we are told of the many personal tragedies in Issa's life, thus making his grief and longing more poignant for us.

Unique with this anthology, I believe, is the use of grouping; in Contents and throughout the book, the haiku are organized not only under the customary Seasons for each poet, but also under themes, such as Children, Flowers, Feelings, People at Work, and many others. This makes it easy for the reader to quickly find poems of special interest.

Also convenient for readers who may have only a first-word-or-two recall of a haiku that is slipping away is the One-Line Index where each poem in Romaji is listed alphabetically by the first word.

Traveling through paths of pages in 1020 Haiku . . . one pauses often by the radiant black-on-white words of the poets and the translators, and not less by the delicate and strong illustrations of the artist.

In their Preface the authors speak of how a harmony of "things, events, feelings," in a haiku, "if internalized by the world's people, could dramatically bolster world peace. People living side by side, without argument, without force." So grand and noble a vision for the humble haiku? To come only through its soft voice of one or two breaths and heartbeats two or three? One would not dream it possible, were it not for voices of gentle natures like those of the old masters and those who care to follow after, to see and to show. Thus Issa:

The heart of the Goddess of Mercy

In the sway

Of willows.

This is what it advertises-- 1020 Haiku from the three great haiku masters-- Basho, Buson, and Issa. The beauty of this book is that there is romanized/phonetic translation of the Japanese... so you can read the English translation, then sound out the Japanese syllables to hear the sound of the haiku (at least an approximation) in the original Japanese. Finally, the hirigana/katakana/kanji are supplied for each haiku, as well, so if you read Japanese, you can read the original.

Misters Nelson and Saito explain that they chose to translate into an English version that they thought best captured the original Japanese intention. They elected not to retain a 5-7-5 or approximate format, although they did keep predominately three lines for each haiku. That being said, I have seen more artistic translations of the common haiku I have read elsewhere in other books-- all in all, I wasn't that happy with the translations... the percentage of haiku that really grabbed me was not as high as other books I've read. But that may just be me, or the fact that out of 1020 haiku, I've seen the best ones already in other books with less.

The book itself is trade paperback in style... about 8x6 inches, 1.5 inches thick. The paper is that thick, grainy, acid-free-looking stuff... it has nice texture that should last. The book is sparsely and tastefully illustrated with Japanese brushstroke paintings and calligraphy throughout. About a dozen or so of the more famous haiku are repeated in the calligraphy independently on full pages as stand-alone decoration.

As tradition, the haiku are divided into seasons. Each haiku poet gets a section in each season. Each section is further sub-divided into areas such as "Flowers", "Eating and Food", "Insects", "People Working" and things like that. The headings are organized alphabetically, but somewhat arbitrarily chosen. The footnotes on selected haiku preodminately elaboarate on Japanese traditions, historical events, and geography that may not be commonly known-- there is no real artistic critique or elaboration. There is an index in the back which organizes the haiku alphabetically by the first Japanese syllable/word.

The preface itself does little in the way of explaining the why of the book and how they chose to translate the original Japanese. There is not a lot, if anything, on philosophy or history, or insight into this type of poetry.

It has been many years since I have felt such joy at the physical beauty of a book: the intelligence and elegance of the design, the parallel texts, the foreword, the beauty of the poetry, the architecture of the sequence, the generous size of the print, the integration of the art work and written characters in the page layouts--all of these things and more. What a lovely gift to the world. Don't miss this.

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