Free Haiku by Stephen Addiss

INTRODUCTION
    H AIKU are now one of the best-known and most practiced forms of poetry in the world. Simple enough to be taught to children, they can also reward a lifetime of study and pursuit. With their evocative explorations of life and nature, they can also exhibit a delightful sense of playfulness and humor.
    Called haikai until the twentieth century, haiku are usually defined as poems of 5-7-5 syllables with seasonal references. This definition is generally true of Japanese haiku before 1900, but it is less true since then with the development of experimental free-verse haiku and those without reference to season: for example, the poems of Santōka (1882–1940), who was well known for his terse and powerful free verse. Seasonal reference has also been less strict in senryÅ« , a comic counterpart of haiku in which human affairs become the focus.
    Freedom from syllabic restrictions is especially true for contemporary haiku composed in other languages. The changes are not surprising. English, for example, has a different rhythm from Japanese: English is “stress-timed” and Japanese “syllable-timed.” Thus, the same content can be said in fewer syllables in English. Take, for example, the most famous of all haiku, a verse by Bashō (1644–94):
    Furu ike ya
    kawazu tobikomu
    mizu no oto
    Furu means “old,” ike means “pond or ponds,” and ya is an exclamatory particle, something like “ah.” Kawazu is a “frog or frogs”; tobikomu , “jump in”; mizu , “water”; no , the genitive “of”; and oto , “sound or sounds” (Japanese does not usually distinguish singular from plural). If using the singular, a literal translation would be:
    Old pond—
    a frog jumps in
    the sound of water
    Only the third of these lines matches the 5-7-5 formula, and the other lines would require “padding” to fit the usual definition:
    [There is an] old pond—
    [suddenly] a frog jumps in
    the sound of water
    This kind of “padding” tends to destroy the rhythm, simplicity, and clarity of haiku, so translations of 5-7-5–syllable Japanese poems are generally rendered with fewer syllables in English. Translators also have to choose whether to use singulars or plurals (such as frog or frogs, pond or ponds , and sound or sounds ), while in Japanese these distinctions are nicely indeterminate.
    We have attempted to offer English translation as close to the Japanese original as possible, line-by-line. Sometimes a parallel English translation succeeds in conveying the sense of the original. This haiku by Issa provides an example:
    Japanese
    kasumu hi no (mist day of)
    uwasa-suru yara (gossip-do maybe)
    nobe no uma (field of horse)
    Close Translation
    Misty day—
    they might be gossiping,
    horses in the field
    Sometimes the attempt at a parallel translation results in awkward English, and a freer translation is necessary, as with this haiku by Buson:
    Japanese
    yoru no ran (night of orchid)
    ka ni kakurete ya (scent in hide wonder)
    hana shiroshi (flower be=white)
    Close Translation
    Evening orchid—
    is it hidden in its scent?
    the white of its flower
    Freer Translation
    Evening orchid—
    the white of its flower
    hidden in its scent
    Other times a parallel translation doesn’t have the impact that can be delivered in a freer translation, as in this haiku by an anonymous poet:
    Japanese
    mayoi-go no (lost-child of)
    ono ga taiko de (one’s=own drum with)
    tazunerare (be=searched=for)
    Close Translation
    The lost child
    with his own drum
    is searched for
    Freer Translation
    Searching for
    the lost child
    with his own drum
    Thus, the challenge for translators is to try to follow the Japanese word and line order without resulting in awkward English. While admirable, sometimes adhering to the original verses may make for weaker poems in English. Sometimes the languages are too different to make a close match without