447: Frog Haiku
"Frog Haiku"
Matsuo Bashô
Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
Old pond - frogs jumped in - sound of water.
Translated by Lafcadio Hearn
A lonely pond in age-old stillness sleeps . . .
Apart, unstirred by sound or motion . . . till
Suddenly into it a lithe frog leaps.
Translated by Curtis Hidden Page
Into the ancient pond
A frog jumps
Water’s sound!
Translated by D.T. Suzuki
The old pond;
A frog jumps in -
The sound of the water.
Translated by R.H. Blyth
An old pond -
The sound
Of a diving frog.
Translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Pond, there, still and old!
A frog has jumped from the shore.
The splash can be heard.
Translated by Eli Siegel
Old pond
and a frog-jump-in
water-sound
Translated by Harold G. Henderson
The old pond, yes, and
A frog-jumping-in-the-
Water’s noise!
Translated by G.S. Fraser
The ancient pond
A frog leaps in
The sound of the water.
Translated by Donald Keene
old pond
frog leaping
splash
Translated by Cid Corman
The old pond,
A frog jumps in:
Plop!
Translated by Alan Watts
Breaking the silence
Of an ancient pond,
A frog jumped into water -
A deep resonance.
Translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa
The quiet pond
A frog leaps in,
The sound of the water.
Translated by Edward Seidensticker
The old pond -
A frog leaps in,
And a splash.
Translated by Makoto Ueda
old pond
a frog in-leaping
water-note
Translated by Cana Maeda
The old pond
A frog jumped in,
Kerplunk!
Translated by Allen Ginsberg
The old pond is still
a frog leaps right into it
splashing the water
Translated by Earl Miner & Hiroko Odagiri
old pond . . .
a frog leaps in
water’s sound
Translated by William J. Higginson
Old dark sleepy pool
quick unexpected frog
goes plop! Watersplash.
Translated by Peter Beilenson
Listen! a frog
Jumping into the stillness
Of an ancient pond!
Translated by Dorothy Britton
Old pond
leap - splash
a frog.
Translated by Lucien Stryk
The old pond;
A frog jumps in -
The sound of the water.
Translated by Robert Aitken
The old pond -
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.
Translated by Robert Hass
At the ancient pond
a frog plunges into
the sound of water
Translated by Sam Hamill
dark old pond
:
a frog plunks in
Translated by Dick Bakken
Ancient silent pond
Then a frog jumped right in
Watersound: kerplunk
Translated by John S. Major
old pond
a frog leaps in -
a moment after, silence
Translated by Ross Figgins
ancient is the pond -
suddenly a frog leaps - now!
the water echoes
Translated by Tim Chilcott
pond
frog
plop!
Translated by James Kirkup
old pond
a frog jumps into
the sound of water
Translated by Jane Reichhold
There once was a curious frog
Who sat by a pond on a log
And, to see what resulted,
In the pond catapulted
With a water-noise heard round the bog.
Translated by Alfred H. Marks
Happy spring! (A day late, but so what?)