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Poetic Entomology: Insects in Japanese Haiku

2000; Oxford University Press; Volume: 46; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/ae/46.2.70

2155-9902

Richard R Dunn,

Insect Utilization and Effects

The dragonfly can't quite land on that blade of grass. -Bash6 (First three poems translated by R. Hass) Butterfly sleeping on the temple bell. -Buson Irecently was told a story about my twoyear-old cousin Ryan following ants down the steps of his house, through the lawn, and back to their colony. He watched them and offered them sugar because they were hungry. I am willing to bet, if allowed, he would have soon, with a stick or his finger, tried to look inside this new world. I suspect that for most of us it was an experience like this, early travels down the trails of small lives, that led us to science and to our questions of how and why. From these same encounters there is, however, another direction of study. Although we busily count antenna 1 segments with microscopes, the poet, with words, can bring a moment's smallest details into focus. Japanese haiku poets in particular seem to have had a special and lasting fondness for insects. In literally thousands of haiku, we find glimpses of insects illuminated by the careful observations of these poets. Japan has had four great forefathers of haiku; Matsuo Bash6 (1644-1694), Yosa Buson (1716-1783), Kobayashi Issa (17621826), and Shiki (1867-1902), all of whom wrote often about insects. Most of the insect poems ofBash6, Buson, and Shiki were about the culturally significant singing insects; cicadas, crickets, grasshoppers, and fireflies (singing with their light) as well as the showy butterflies and dragonflies.