Friday, March 10, 2006

Example Kasen written by Basho's group

Here is an example of several verses, taken from the middle of a kasen written by Basho's group (note the first three lines is called the hokku):

Riding
a three-year-old pony
in the early fall.

Rain falliing
every which way.

Dusk--
they're packed in
the hot spring bath of Suma.

In among them--
a wandering priest.

Pushing
the talk
in one direction only.

Started by chance,
their love gets serious.

"Eat something,"
the mother says,
"you'll get over him."

The sleeves of the moon-gazers
have grown wet with dew.

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Text translated by Robert Hass in The Essential Haiku, (c) 1994, Ecco Press.

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