17 May 2005: The past two days, I've been going through my blog entries. I'm trying to find the poem I was working on to demonstrate that I could write good formal verse. I've had no luck, although I'm sure I devoted at least two entries to it. Meanwhile, I keep coming across typos and (unintentional)incoherences. Also entries I want to write entries about. One such was one from 23 March 2005 in which I posted my final translation of Basho's old pond haiku:
The Pond
old pond;
abruptly, the sound
of a frog,
splashing in
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This, I've now decided, should be:
The Pond
old pond;
abruptly, the sound
of a frog's
splash-in
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I've returned pretty much (maybe entirely) to my original translation--because it seems to me the sound of the splash, not of the frog, is a key element of the poem. And "splash-in" no longer hits me as strained. I hope this is truly my final translation.
A few days ago, Dan Waber forwarded a collection of other translations of this poem he'd found on the Internet. See below. I don't think any as much as 80% as good as mine. Sorry.
Matsuo Bash�: Frog Haiku
(Thirty-One Translations)
The original Japanese:
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
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
pond
frog
plop! Translated by James Kirkup
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
une paisible mare
une grenouille fait des bulles
on ne s'entend plus Translated by Sally Jane Norman
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