poetry
 
THE HANATŌ CAT HAIKUS
 


Readers the world over revere the Japanese poet Bashō (1644 - 1694), master of the Haiku. Bashō was to Haiku what Shake-speare was to the sonnet - in a sense simultaneously creating the form and perfecting it.
 
Not as many are familiar with Bashō's contemporary, Hanatō Fukui (1650 - 1713).
 
Among Hanatō's most famous works are his "Ode To Milk", "Rumination On An Infection", and, of course, his "Argument Against Mildness". He is most renowned however for his sequence of cat Haikus, written throughout his life and finally collected and published posthumously in 1733 in a volume entitled simply "The Edo Cat Haikus". The original work featured illustrations that Hanatō himself had executed over many years.
 
We feature today a sampling of Hanatō's magnificent pieces, from the new translation by Trini Savitch:
 
 
  1. So many cats around,
  2. So many goddamn cats.
  3. They're freaking me out.
  4.  
  5.  
  6. I wake in a ditch,
  7. Face-down in fishy vomit.
  8. Mine? The alley cat's?
  9.  
  10.  
  11. Cat licks his behind.
  12. Full moon makes all pure and white.
  13. Cat licks his behind.
  14.  
  15.  
  16. You are a vampire!
  17. They tell lies, say you're a cat.
  18. Pelt you with garlic.
  19.  
  20.  
  21. Last night I was drunk.
  22. But you, cat, stayed home with me.
  23. You're my only friend.
  24.  
  25.  
  26. Kyoto cats yowl,
  27. Terrifying shrieks from Hell.
  28. I have wet the bed.
  29.  
  30.  
  31. Three days, no shaving.
  32. White cat rubs my drunken hulk.
  33. When I wake - white beard!
  34.  
  35.  
  36. Moonlight fills my room,
  37. Sweet dream of Kyoto girls.
  38. Hot breath. Claws. Hungry cat!
  39.  
  40.  
  41. Lithe cat chases light,
  42. Tries to catch pond reflections.
  43. Koi oblivious.
 
 
 
When the Hanatō Fukui left Edo (now Tokyo) for a summer to visit acquaintances in Kyoto, he composed some of his most moving and beautiful Cat Haiku. Occasionally, these have been published separately from the bulk of "The Edo Cat Haikus" in slim volumes usually called "The Kyoto Cat Haikus", and they have rarely been out of print since they were written.
 
We feature three of these so-called "Kyoto Cat Haikus", including one of Hanatō's most popular, "I have swallowed fur...":
 
 
  1. I have swallowed fur
  2. Shed by all the summer cats.
  3. I am so thirsty.
  4.  
  5.  
  6. Dazzling sun on koi
  7. Gleaming in the cat's still eye.
  8. My hangover pounds.
  9.  
  10.  
  11. A clear icy stream -
  12. I put the dirty cat in,
  13. Sound of screaming
 
 
 
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