93

Dairi-bina

            The Emperor of Dolls holding sway

                        over all today

 

92

The Kapitan too

            bows down before the Shogun

                        the New Year greeting

 

91

Teikin no Orai 

            Who'll be first to take it out

                        this New Year morning?

90

Well so anyway no ado

            yesterday went and happened

                        after fugu soup

89

The white of charcoal

            The Urashima story

                        and the age-old box

 

88

Snow on Mount Fuji

            created in a dream by

                        Rosei's pillow

 

87

Swaddled by the frost

            settled to sleep in the wind

                        an abandoned child

 

86

A winter shower

            Pebbles pelting into the

                        Koishikawa

  

85

The scudding of clouds

            A dog running and pissing

                        a passing shower

 

84

The dyeing begins

            Onto tofu befallen

                        a maple-leaf tinge

83

Weakening branches

            reddish toushi paper torn

                        The wind in autumn

 

82

Gazing at the sawn

            end of a freshly felled tree

                        Tonight's harvest moon

 

81

The harvest moon tonight

            Come shine it up Hitomi

                        Izumo-no-Kami

 

80

Leaf-sheathed ears of corn

            Under the eaves the green reed

                        taken by mistake

 

79

Autumntime coming on

            Coming to visit my ears

                        the pillow-rustling wind

78

From the topmost bough

            emptiness has come falling

                        a cicada's husk

77

Omi mossie --

            net sweat rippling waves breaking

                        on the bed tonight

 

76

Rainy season rains

            The watchman's lantern lighting

                        the Dragon's candles

75

Tomorrow chimaki

            leaf-wrappings will dry and die

                        a Naniwa dream

 

74

Though unwaited for

            the veg seller's come calling

                        The lesser cuckoo

 

73

Always first to know

            Upon Gichiku's bamboo

                        a snowfall of blooms

 

72

Even the Dragon

            Palace with today's low-tide

                        Airing-the-House-Out

 

71

The tomcat's molly

            through the ruins of a crumbled hearth

                        coming and going

 

70

Across Mount Hiei

            inscribing "shi" at a stroke

                        a lone line of mist

69

The kadomatsu

        at New Year and overnight

                    thirty years have gone by

68

At long last it's here

            At long last it's here at last

                        The end of the year

 

67

Gazing on something

            so seldom seen from Edo

                        The moon-topped mountains

 

66

About a hundred ri's 

            remove I've come under clouds

                        their cooling shadow

65

The wind from Mount Fuji

            borne upon this folding fan

                        A gift from Edo

 

64

The summertime moon

            from Goyu already come

                        to Akasaka

 

63

The life that's given

            The small pool of shade under

                        a wickerwork hat

 

62

The mount of Fuji

            Cover of the tea mortar

                        mounted on a flea

 

61

The clouds as its roots

            Fuji assuming a cedar's

                        superabundance

60

And I too at the god's

            treasured firmament gazing

                        The ume blossoms

 

59

Seeing these ume

            even the cow at Tenjin

                        would make its first moo

58

Weighed upon the scales

            Kyoto/Edo balance

                        eternal springtime

57

Beneath the sake

            cup flows a chrysanthemum

                        on a lacquered tray

 

56

Musashino Plain

            An inch tall and an inch loud

                        the deer and its call

55

Acupuncturist

            Upon the shoulder tapping

                        the bodiless robe

 

54

For the town doctor

            a summons to the Big House

                        A Horse Guard's Parade

 

53

See the slim figure

            still as yet undeveloped

                        The young moon goodness

 

52

Today comes the nighttime

            of no bedtime no sleeping

                        For the moonviewing

 

51

From the watching them

            so taken I want to take

                        the maiden flowers

 

50

Here's a bamboo shoot

            Squirt of the slaverings of

                        the dewdropping grass

 

49

In setting to plant

            handle like you would a child

                        the Infant Cherry

 

48

In everybody's

            mouth the color of autumn

                        a maple-leaf tongue

 

47

Not letters loose leaves

            colored sheet upon sheet raked

                        burnt after reading

 

46

The life source and seed

            the sprouting taro again

                        the mid-autumn moon

 

45

I am seeing stars
            Wishes upon the blooms of

                        the Weeping Cherry

44

So much harsher than the

            mouths of the world the mouth of

                        the wind for blossoms

 

43

How beautifully

            the princess melon reveals

                        the inner Empress

 

42

The summer sward it's

            sporting the mountain fastness'

                        short sword on the waist

 

41

As the clouds drift apart

            for now friend we separate

                        Wild geese living leave

 

40

A pair of deer rubbing

            hair up against hair each other's 

                        hair so hard to please

39

Come on come and see

            jinbe on as your mantle

                    cherish the blossoms

38

That the New Year's here

            even striplings realize

                        The strawrope-on-doors

 

37

Rainy season rains

            testing the shallows of the 

                        Minare River

36

At Uchiyama

            the unknown to outsiders

                        blossoms in full bloom

 

35

The Katsua Gallant

            where he's living now not clear

                        The harvest moon rain

 

34

The blossoming wavecrests

            the snow too the water's out

                        of season flowers

 

33

When the breezes blow

            tapering off to a wag

                        the Cherry Dogwood

 

32

A Weeping Cherry

            As I turn away to leave

                        reeling I'm reeled in

 

31

Such merrymakers

            here now among Hatsue's

                        wild cherry blossoms

30

Summer approaching

            Stop up that windsack store up

                        blossom-picking winds

29

The springtime breezes

            will make the buds split their sides

                        bloomingly let's hope

 

28

The blossoms unfailing

            My grief this unopening

                        pouch of poetry

 

27

Mochi-like snowflakes

            making stringy rice cakes of

                        the willow branches

 

26

Here's an easterly

            unraveling the willow

                        ruffling through her hair

 

25

Now fully in bloom

            So leave the ume untouched

                        winnowing breezes

 

24

The faces of blossoms

            so bashfully slinks away

                        The haze-hidden moon

23

The shriveling frost

            Melancholy the blooming

                        in the flower field

 

22

The hailstones commingling

            with the katabira snow

                        Such embroidery

 

21

Slumped over bent so low

            The upside-down node-world of

                        snow-laden bamboo

 

20

The winter drizzle

            Irritatedly waited

                        for the snow the pines

19

In the mirror moon

            of an unseasonal night

                        a New Year eyeful

Some thoughts

While reading these Haikus, one thing appears is, how available to the Japanese mindset or mental landscape are the year and each of its days marked with natural beauty or some past historic legend, from flowers of different seasons to the phases of moon. It seems a whole mental treasure trove or a fabric of memory and recall available which is not cultivated as beautifully in other cultures. Be it flower viewing, autumn appreciating or moon viewing. And the legends associated with different days and different months - sort of add a different depth to their literature and poetry. A bigger sandbox for a poet to play with.

Personally, I feel one can map memory to years, month, days and to the places one has lived and been in. And zoom in and out of there. And then to the known atlas, geography of the world and planets. But this shared calendar with a whole culture lends a currency or a language which allows for better exchange of mental states. And then even a small haiku can be as loaded as a long ballad, by recalling just the keyword of the legend or the day.

18

That supine bush-clover

            How impudent-looking her

                        and her blooming face

17

Voices in the reeds

            This is the mouth-mimicry

                        of the autumn wind

 

16

That Celestial light

            the Princess Shitateru?

                        The face of the moon

 

15

Just stay clear and leave

            where I live a capital

                        Moon of Kyoto

 

14

A Tanabata

            heart with rendezvous rained off

                        Under the weather

13

The autumnal wind

            through the mouthway of a door

                        points a piercing voice

12

A little while to

            await the call of the cuck-

                        oo a thousand years 

11

Rock-azaleas

            dyed by the teardrops of the 

                        cuckoochineal

             

10

The calabash gourd

            so entrancing its flowers

                        my body's floating

9

Rabbit-ear iris

            looking like its lookalike

                        its water-double 

8

The sounds of downpour

            even ears becoming sour

                        in the ume rains

7

Rainy season rains

            Excuse my discourtesy

                        O face of the moon

6

A flower visible

        to the eyes of the humble

                    The demon thistle

5

All Kyoto today all

        the ninety-nine thousand types

                    out for hanami 

4

Making everybody

        put on years yet forever

                    Ebisu the Young

3

The rosebud cherry

        flowering for memory

                for the end of age

2

The moon now a signpost

        This the way please step inside

                    our travelers' inn

1

Has the springtime come?
        Has the old year gone away?
                    Little New Year's Eve

From

The book - Basho | The complete Haiku of Matsuo Basho. 

The book provides context to each Haiku which beautifully enriches the poems. Here I have copied only the Haikus.