Hardly Haiku 　俳句かい

The 4th meeting of our Hardly Haiku group. All members are welcome, particularly those with no talent for poetry.

In this event we will try to translate these 3 poems advertised on the Modern Poetry In Translation website.

HAIKU 1 – by Enomoto Seifu.
散花の下にめでたき髑髏かな
Chiru hana no | moto ni medetaki | dokuro kana

‘Literal’ translation by Alan Cummings
Falling blossoms
Beneath, lying happily
A skull

HAIKU 2 – by Yosa Buson
春雨や小磯の小貝ぬるるほど
harusame ya | koiso no kogai | nururu hodo

‘Literal’ translation by Alan Cummings
spring rain –
beach’s small shells
to moisten enough

HAIKU 3 – by Sugita Hisajo
蝶追うて春山深く迷ひけり
chō oute | haruyama fukaku | mayohi keri

‘Literal’ translation by Alan Cummings
butterfly chasing –
spring hills deeply
get lost

The event will stretch our English levels rather than our Japanese. No Japanese ability is required

https://modernpoetryintranslation.com/workshop/haiku-workshop/

We can submit our translations to a competition.

I have added a brief explanation of what haiku is below.