gyozui no
sutedokoro naki
mushi no koe
- Uejima Onitsura (1661-1738)
No place
to throw out the bathwater -
sound of insects
- trans. Cheryl A. Crowley
There is no place
to throw the used bath water.
Insect cries!
- trans. Harold G. Henderson
This is the best known
haiku of the poet Uejima Onitsura, a slightly younger contemporary of
Matsuo Basho and nearly as highly regarded as the great master.
The
guozui is a hot-water bath enjoyed by commoners in their gardens during the heat of the summer months. The cries of
cicadas, on the other hand, are heard in late summer and well into the fall. So Onitsura is deftly using the
kigo to show the transition from summer to fall.
This poem is touching in its extremely sensitive deference to nature, as Onitsura is reluctant to dump out the dirty bath water in the garden lest it disturb the insects. Perhaps it helped that the chirping of the cicadas in
Japan is much more pleasing than the sound of the
North American variety.
Onitsura's poem was extremely popular and prompted this famous and hysterical
parody:
onitsura wa
yachu tarai o
mochi aruki
Onitsura
Walked around all night
A pail in his hand
- trans. Donald Keene
Unfortunately, I don't know the author of the parody. It may have been anonymous.