white blossoms
the crane was stolen
just yesterday

– Matsuo Bashō

to smell the odor
peat dug from the hill
of plum blossoms

– Matsuo Bashō

sunrise party
the mum’s scent skewered
by the tofu kabob

– Matsuo Bashō

melting away
the brush draws up the water
of a spring

– Matsuo Bashō

taking one robe off
tossing it over my shoulder
clothes-changing day

– Matsuo Bashō

a traveler’s heart
it also should look like
chinquapin flowers

– Matsuo Bashō

Hat Temple
the non-leaking cave
in a spring rain

– Matsuo Bashō

year after year
the cherry tree nourished by
fallen blossoms

– Matsuo Bashō

dreaming rice cakes
fastened to folded ferns
a grass pillow

– Matsuo Bashō

if I had a good voice
I would chant until
cherry blossoms scatter

– Matsuo Bashō

on one plum tree
blossoms – mistletoe
on another

– Matsuo Bashō

the lingering scent
of orchid curtains
a private room

– Matsuo Bashō

how very tasteful
amusing the heart
at the year’s end

– Matsuo Bashō

winter mums
covered with rice flour
edge of the grinder

– Matsuo Bashō

even a horse
is something to see
on a snowy morning

– Matsuo Bashō

how very tasteful
amusing the heart
at the year’s end

– Matsuo Bashō

with rice gruel
listening to a lute under the eaves
hailstones

– Matsuo Bashō

don’t forget
to enjoy the cool air at
Sayo of Nakayama

– Matsuo Bashō

this jewel his soul
will return to Black Feather Mountain
the moon of sacred law

– Matsuo Bashō

village kids
don’t break all the plum branches
for cattle whips

– Matsuo Bashō