Classic Japanese haiku, season by season.

An ancient pond! With a sound from the water Of the frog as it plunges in.

Matsuo Bashō

古池や 蛙飛び込む 水の音

furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto

Composed 1686; trans. W. G. Aston, A History of Japanese Literature (1899), p. 295

The snow is melting and the village overflows with children.

Kobayashi Issa

雪とけて 村一ぱいの 子どもかな

yuki tokete / mura ippai no / kodomo kana

Composed 1814; trans. David G. Lanoue

The spring sea, rising and falling, rising, all the day long.

Yosa Buson

春の海 ひねもすのたり のたりかな

haru no umi / hinemosu notari / notari kana

Composed c.1763; The Penguin Book of Haiku (2018)

The light of a candle is passed to another candle spring twilight.

Yosa Buson

燭の火を 燭に移すや 春の夕

shoku no hi o / shoku ni utsusu ya / haru no yū

Trans. Robert Hass, The Essential Haiku (1994)

Spring rain falling chatting as we walk along, straw raincoat, umbrella.

Yosa Buson

春雨や ものがたりゆく 蓑と傘

harusame ya / monogatari yuku / mino to kasa

Trans. Robert Hass, The Essential Haiku (1994)

From all directions winds bring petals of cherry into the grebe lake.

Matsuo Bashō

四方より 花吹き入れて 鳰の波

shihō yori / hana fuki irete / nio no nami

On Lake Biwa; cf. Ueda, Bashō and His Interpreters (1992)

In the blossom shade there is no such thing at all as a stranger.

Kobayashi Issa

花の陰 赤の他人は なかりけり

hana no kage / aka no tanin wa / nakari keri

Trans. David G. Lanoue, Haiku of Kobayashi Issa

Perched upon the temple-bell, the butterfly sleeps

Yosa Buson

釣鐘に とまりて眠る 胡蝶かな

tsurigane ni / tomarite nemuru / kochō kana

Adapted from Lafcadio Hearn, Kwaidan (1904), p. 188; Hearn does not name the poet

A lovely spring night suddenly vanished while we viewed the cherry bloom.

Matsuo Bashō

春の夜は 桜に明けて しまひけり

haru no yo wa / sakura ni akete / shimai keri

Composed 1694; standard Bashō collections

Such utter stillness sinking into the boulders, the cicadas’ cry.

Matsuo Bashō

閑さや 岩にしみ入る 蝉の声

shizukasa ya / iwa ni shimiiru / semi no koe

Oku no Hosomichi (1689)

The cuckoo calling where it disappears to, a single island.

Matsuo Bashō

ほととぎす 消え行く方や 島一つ

hototogisu / kieyuku kata ya / shima hitotsu

Composed 1693; standard Bashō collections

In my old home everything that I touch turns into a bramble.

Kobayashi Issa

ふるさとや よるもさはるも 茨の花

furusato ya / yoru mo sawaru mo / bara no hana

Trans. David G. Lanoue

In the June rains, as if by stealth, one night the moon shines through the pines.

Ōshima Ryōta

五月雨や ある夜ひそかに 松の月

samidare ya / aru yo hisoka ni / matsu no tsuki

Adapted from B. H. Chamberlain, Bashō and the Japanese Poetical Epigram (1902), p. 354

A summer room where, lying down, I see the clouds as they go past.

Shida Yaba

行く雲を 寝てゐて見るや 夏座敷

yuku kumo o / nete ite miru ya / natsu-zashiki

Sumidawara (1694); adapted from B. H. Chamberlain, Bashō and the Japanese Poetical Epigram (1902), p. 336

Don’t swat that fly! see how it wrings its hands, see how it wrings its feet.

Kobayashi Issa

やれ打つな 蝿が手をすり 足をする

yare utsu na / hae ga te o suri / ashi o suru

Composed 1820; trans. David G. Lanoue

’Tis evening, and in serried file stand the bare pinnacles of cloud.

Mukai Kyorai

夕暮や 禿げ並びたる 雲の峰

yūgure ya / hage narabitaru / kumo no mine

Adapted from B. H. Chamberlain, Bashō and the Japanese Poetical Epigram (1902), p. 331

How cool it feels here the faint crescent of the moon over Black Wing Hill.

Matsuo Bashō

涼しさや ほの三日月の 羽黒山

suzushisa ya / hono mikazuki no / Haguro-yama

Oku no Hosomichi (1689)

The summer grasses all that remains of the dreams of ancient warriors.

Matsuo Bashō

夏草や 兵どもが 夢の跡

natsu-gusa ya / tsuwamono-domo ga / yume no ato

Oku no Hosomichi (1689)

On a withered branch A crow is sitting This autumn eve.

Matsuo Bashō

枯枝に 烏のとまりけり 秋の暮

kare eda ni / karasu no tomarikeri / aki no kure

Composed c.1680; trans. W. G. Aston, A History of Japanese Literature (1899), p. 295

The morning glory has taken the well-bucket I beg for water.

Fukuda Chiyo-ni

朝顔に つるべ取られて もらひ水

asagao ni / tsurube torarete / morai mizu

Trans. Patricia Donegan & Yoshie Ishibashi, Chiyo-ni (1998)

A rough sea, and the Milky Way stretching across to Sado’s isle.

Matsuo Bashō

荒海や 佐渡に横たふ 天の河

araumi ya / Sado ni yokotau / ama no gawa

Oku no Hosomichi (1689); adapted from B. H. Chamberlain, Bashō and the Japanese Poetical Epigram (1902), p. 322

This dewdrop world is only a dewdrop world, and yet… and yet…

Kobayashi Issa

露の世は 露の世ながら さりながら

tsuyu no yo wa / tsuyu no yo nagara / sari nagara

Ora ga Haru (1819)

Wild grasses in bloom all we speak of, all we tell, is the autumn wind.

Kobayashi Issa

草花や 言ふも語るも 秋の風

kusabana ya / iu mo kataru mo / aki no kaze

Composed 1810; trans. David G. Lanoue

The autumn full moon all night long I paced round and round the pond.

Matsuo Bashō

名月や 池をめぐりて 夜もすがら

meigetsu ya / ike o megurite / yomosugara

Composed 1686; cf. Ueda, Bashō and His Interpreters (1992)

Oh! the moon-gazing where some clouds from time to time repose the eye!

Matsuo Bashō

雲折々 人を休める 月見かな

kumo oriori / hito o yasumeru / tsukimi kana

Adapted from B. H. Chamberlain, Bashō and the Japanese Poetical Epigram (1902), p. 323

I bite into a persimmon and a bell resounds Hōryū-ji.

Masaoka Shiki

柿くへば 鐘が鳴るなり 法隆寺

kaki kueba / kane ga naru nari / Hōryū-ji

Composed 1895; trans. Burton Watson, Masaoka Shiki (1997)

Along this road no one travels at all autumn evening.

Matsuo Bashō

この道や 行く人なしに 秋の暮

kono michi ya / yuku hito nashi ni / aki no kure

Composed 1694; cf. Ueda, Bashō and His Interpreters (1992)

The first cold shower even the monkey seems to want a little straw coat.

Matsuo Bashō

初しぐれ 猿も小蓑を ほしげなり

hatsu shigure / saru mo komino o / hoshige nari

Sarumino (1691)

What haste! a shower in the offing, and sails set straight, and sails set slant.

Mukai Kyorai

いそがしや 沖の時雨の 真帆片帆

isogashi ya / oki no shigure no / maho kataho

Adapted from B. H. Chamberlain, Bashō and the Japanese Poetical Epigram (1902), p. 331

How distant on the fallen leaves his footstep sounds for whom I wait!

Yosa Buson

待人の 足音遠き 落葉かな

machibito no / ashioto tōki / ochiba kana

Adapted from B. H. Chamberlain, Bashō and the Japanese Poetical Epigram (1902), p. 352

Behold the leaf that sinks and clings below the water to a rock!

Naitō Jōsō

水底の 岩に落ちつく 木の葉かな

minasoko no / iwa ni ochitsuku / ko no ha kana

Adapted from B. H. Chamberlain, Bashō and the Japanese Poetical Epigram (1902), p. 333

I sink in the axe and am startled by the scent: the winter grove.

Yosa Buson

斧入れて 香におどろくや 冬木立

ono irete / ka ni odoroku ya / fuyu kodachi

Trans. Robert Hass, The Essential Haiku (1994)

Some water-fowl, and in the midst of withered trees two palanquins.

Yosa Buson

水鳥や 枯木の中に 駕二挺

mizutori ya / kareki no naka ni / kago nichō

Adapted from B. H. Chamberlain, Bashō and the Japanese Poetical Epigram (1902), p. 352

Nothing remaineth; for the snow hath blotted out both moor and hill.

Naitō Jōsō

野も山も 雪にとられて 何もなし

no mo yama mo / yuki ni torarete / nani mo nashi

Adapted from B. H. Chamberlain, Bashō and the Japanese Poetical Epigram (1902), p. 332

Sick on my journey, my dreams wander on and on over withered fields.

Matsuo Bashō

旅に病んで 夢は枯野を かけ廻る

tabi ni yande / yume wa kareno o / kakemeguru

Composed 1694; Bashō’s death poem