## For All My Walking: Free-Verse Haiku of Taneda Santoka with Excerpts from His Diary by Taneda Santōka, translated by Burton Watson ### Poem 114 Mornings are good!\ leaves fallen\ leaves yet to fall 朝は良いかな落ちた葉も落ちぬ葉も\ asa wa yoi kana ochita ha mo ochinu ha mo *I love this poem. To me, it evoked a sense of quiet calm in the early morning when the world is just beginning to wake up. In my mind, Santōka had just awoken in the morning. The sky is overcast; it is winter. In the crisp morning air, his footsteps deaden by the fallen snow, he looks up and sees the leaves. *However, I don’t like the English translations when compared to the original Japanese. I feel what’s missing in the first line that is present in the Japanese is a sense of wonder or doubt (かな), like Santōka doesn’t fully believe or trust his sentiment. Are mornings truly fine? *Secondly, 落ちぬ葉 (ochinu ha) was translated as “leaves yet to fall”, but 落ち**ぬ** means “not fallen" which I like better. “Yet to fall” factors in time and presumes that in time, the leaves will eventually fall. The original Japanese also brings to mind the Heart Sutra: form is emptiness, emptiness is form (色即是空 空即是色)(Shiki soku ze kū, kū soku ze shiki)—not one or the other, but holding both at the same time. *But in thinking about more later, I see there is already a temporal aspect to the poem as 落ちた(ochita) is past tense, and in context, without presuming, “yet to fall” makes sense.* ### Poem 177 I sit\ in the beauty\ of grasses as they wither 枯れゆく草の美しさにさわる\ kare yuku kusa no utsukushisa ni sawaru *I love the sense of fleeting beauty and sadness in this poem. Mono no aware came to mind, and the feeling it invoked in me reminds me that I should read Kawabata’s Beauty and Sadness. Another book to add to my ever-growing list.* ### Poem 179 didn’t mean to think of it\ still I thought of it\ rain coming down 考えるともなく考えていた時雨れていた\ kangaeru tomo naku kagaeta shigureta ita *The last line (in Japanese) really encapsulates the first two, however in looking up the translation for* shigureru, *I see it as “raining on and off” like the errant thought that takes purchase in your mind, leaving soon after and finding its way back again.* ### Poem 184 all withered—\ grasses I walk over\ going nowhere 当てもなく踏み歩く草はみな枯れたり\ ate mo naku fumiaruku kusa wa mina karetari *I like the contrast of this haiku with Poem 177.* ### Poem 192 something about the water\ even cloud reflections\ can’t settle down 水の雲影も落ち着かせないものがある\ mizu no kumo kage mo ochitsukasenai mono ga iru *Is it the flag that’s fluttering? The wind? Your mind?* ### Poem 212 alone\ crossing the mountain\ another mountain 一人山超えてまた山 hitori yama koete mata yama *I know how this feels.* ### Poem 236 autumn wind\ for all my walking—\ for all my walking— 秋風歩いても歩いても\ aki kaze aruite mo aruite mo *Was this where the title of the book comes from? I love the simplicity of poem, both in Japanese and English.*