Dragonfly Hunter ~ Sad Haiku of Japan


蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら 千代尼
tombo tsuri kyou wa doko made itta yara


my little dragonfly hunter
how far, I wonder
has he gone today...
—Chiyo-ni


(trans. David LaSpina[1])

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(Print by Mori Shunkei)

If anyone could be said to be a true heir of the great Bashō, Chiyo-ni is in the running, and was considered so even during her life. She was already famous for her poetry by the age of 17, and today she is thought of as one of the greatest female poets Japan has produced.

Here she is writing about her dead son. You can feel her sorrow as she uses a simple line, one that that she must have used many times while he was alive when he would run with his friends and she would wonder where he was. With him gone, the innocent question of his whereabouts takes a sad and wistful tone, strong enough to bring tears to your eyes.

The question takes on a double meaning when we consider that the path through the afterlife for children was said to be an extremely difficult one, even with the help of Jizo-sama—the Buddhist saint with a red bib whose statues you see dotted across Japan—who is said to help children in the afterlife in their journey to be reborn. How far has he made it in the afterlife today?

Catching bugs has always been a popular pastime for kids in Japan, by the way. Beetles and dragonflies perhaps most so, but no bugs are safe from the small bug hunters. The uber-popular Pokemon was based on this insect catching activity in Japan.


Hi thereDavid LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.

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  1. That is, me! If you like this translation, feel free to use it. Just credit me. Also link here if you can.

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