Basho’s poem, Even in Kyoto
Robert Haas’s translation
I believe that Haas’s translation is far from literal since the last line simply simply names the cuckoo, but it is far and away the most beautiful translation in English. However, there are others.
Even in Kyoto
| 京 | にて | も |
|---|---|---|
| kyou | nite | mo |
Hearing the cuckoo cry
| 京 | なつかし | や |
|---|---|---|
| kyou | natsukashi | ya |
I long for Kyoto
| ほととぎす | ||
|---|---|---|
| hototogisu |
read by our daughter-in-law
some other trasnlation
- Even in Kyoto / longing for Kyoto / the cuckoo (© Jane Reichhold) (I suspect this is the most literal translation)
- Even in Kyoto, / I miss Kyoto very much / when I hear a cuckoo. (© Toshiharu Oseko)
- Even in Kyoto, / how I long for old Kyoto / when the cuckoo sings (© Sam Hamill)
- In Kyoto even / For Kyoto I yearn - / A little cuckoo. (© Takafumi Saito & William R. Nelson)
A funny comment about the poem
I can’t find the name of this commentator, but these are some very enlightening comments about the poem
A silly video
Up next
War in Ukraine - an explanation
PITY THE NATION
Pity the nation whose people are sheep And whose shepherds mislead them Pity the nation whose leaders are liars Whose sages are silenced And
Latest posts
Vocabulary lesson
Iris and I had an interesting discussion with Google Bard this morning.
Discussion on the Pomona College class of 1964 listserv
I’m illiterate
Elon Musk
I love photographing the artists at Wildacres
Eating a Mouse
It Really is a Fascist Flag (at least to some Americans)
I love the New York Times Metropolitan Diary
Watching The Ten Commandments in Gafsa, Tunisia, in the sixtes
I wanna be like these guys when I’m their age!
The insignificance of photography
Enough
photos from our trip to Japan
MoveOn wants to amend the Constitution?
Google Sheet Number Formatting
Summer Brake
Romantic technologies and ideologies
PITY THE NATION
Basho’s poem, Even in Kyoto
War in Ukraine - an explanation
Timothy Snyder’s History of Ukraine
Fake Email Senders
More on language learning
Effect and Cause
Soros is my Co-Pilot
Note à une chère amie
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Why Purim upsets me
I was a Programmer Who Swore Constantly
I perceive new things as my nerves slow down