Summer Wind

IB’s spontaneous sculpture at Gichu-ji where Basho is buried

IB in a creative and culturally courageous act decided to teach writing haiku in English to a class of 80 Japanese students, 14/15 year olds. Here are some of their results:

In the summer night
A very big explosion
Flowers in the sky

Summer vacation
We have a lot of homework
Why are we so busy

I love Mr. IB
He is so very handsome
Thank you very much

Motivated by all of this, IB wrote his first haiku, in Japanese, but shared with us how difficult it was to translate. The Japanese language is more precise in some ways, and vague in others, with multiple meanings and shades of inference, which makes translation nearly impossible according to our young expert.

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夏の風

NA   TSU  NO KA  ZE

SUMMER WIND

夢飛んで行く

YU  ME TO N DE I KU

DREAM(S) GO FLYING 

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跳ね上がる

HA NE A GA RU

JUMP  (UP)

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So though the words are translated above, here is IB’s take on the meaning of his haiku :

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NATSU NO KAZE

YUME TONDE IKU

HANE AGARU

IN THE SUMMER’S BREEZE

DREAMS GO FLYING FORWARD

TAKE A LEAP A FAITH

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Basho perfected the practice of haiku. JB’s mother, Ida, taught him this art of poetry. I have attempted to write a haiku for each of the years JB has been alive. And now, IB takes another leap of faith.

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Translation: Life is good.

Gichu-ji