Animal haiku

In a new book from the British Museum exploring the form's long tradition of focus on animals, haiku from some of the greatest exponents - Basho, Buson and Issa - sit alongside exquisite prints of the creatures they describe
  
  


Haiku Animals: Morita Kako, Dragonfly on Stalk of Rush
Morita Kako: Dragonfly on Stalk of Rush

Woodblock print, colours on paper, c.1900



it comes to my shoulder

longing for human company:

a red dragonfly

Natsume Soseki



he has dyed his body

with autumn -

the dragonfly

Bakusui
Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum
Photograph: Action images
Haiku Animals: Kawamura Bunpo, Rabbits (detail) from Handscroll of Japanese Subjects.
Kawamura Bunpo: Rabbits (detail), from Handscroll of Japanese Subjects

Painting, ink and colours on paper, c.1807



even the rabbit

droops one of her ears -

midsummer heat!

Akutagawa Ryunosuke
Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum
Haiku Animals: Onchi Koshiro, Fish, Jellyfish, Squid and Coral
Onchi Koshiro: Fish, Jellyfish, Squid and Coral

Colour woodblock print, right section of a triptych, 1937



like squids

bank clerks are fluorescent

from the morning

Kaneko Tota
Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum
Haiku Animals: Kinoshita Oju, Two Trout in Flowing Water
Kinoshita Oju: Two Trout in Flowing Water

Hanging scroll painting, ink and colours on paper, c.1800-1810



a trout leaps;

clouds are moving

in the bed of the stream

Onitsura



in the evening,

the bellies of the trout,

seen in the shallows

Onitsura
Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum
Photograph: Action images
Haiku Animals: Inagaki Tomoo, Stretching Cat
Inagaki Tomoo: Stretching Cat

Woodblock print, colours on paper, mainly brown pigments, 1963



awaking from sleep,

yawning, stretching, slinking out

in search of love: cat

Issa
Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum
Haiku Animals: Anon, Grebe on the Water with Irises
Anon: Grebe on the Water with Irises

Ink and colours on paper, early 19th century



the water-fowl

lays its beak on its breast

and sleeps as it floats

Ginko



the grebe

when it becomes lonely

dives into the water

Hino Sojo
Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum
 

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