身あがりに独ねざめの夜寒哉
miagari ni hitori nezame no yosamu kana
on her day off
the prostitute wakes up alone
ah, the cold of night
—Chiyo-ni
(trans. David LaSpina[1])
(“Beauty resting” by Tomiya Oda)
Chiyo-ni is generally considered the one of the greatest female haiku poets in Japanese history, or at least one of the best. Her teachers were students of Bashō so you can definitely see hints of him in her work, but she did develop her own style. She began writing haiku when she was seven, and by 17 she had already become very popular all over Japan.
Some time after her husband died, she took Buddhist vows and became a nun; she still lived at home, but lived a very simple life, writing poetry and communicating with friends.
In the above haiku she takes a compassionate look at sadness of a profession we don't often give much compassion to.
One of her friends, a fellow nun named Kasenjo has been a prostitute in her youth and so it's speculated Chiyo-ni may have been thinking of her when she wrote the above poem.
That is, me! If you like this translation, feel free to use it. Just credit me. Also link here if you can. ↩