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Haiku of Sôen
Nakagawa (1907-1984)
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Bibliography
Shigan (“Coffin of Poems”), 1936
"Ten Haiku of My Choice", 1973
Endless Vow: The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa (presented with an Introduction by Eido Tai Shimano, Shambhala 1996)
In his "Preface" Kazuaki Tanahashi writes: "Zen Master Soen Nakagawa was a key figure in the transmission of Zen Buddhism from Japan to the Western world. As abbot of the historic Ryutaku Monastery, he trained monks and lay practitioners. Among them were Robert Aitken and Philip Kapleau, who later became two of the first Westerners to teach Zen in the United States . . . Soen Nakagawa was also an extraordinary poet. In Japan his haiku are renowned, even though no substantial collection of his work has been made available to the general public."
Gratitude!
tears
melting into
mountain snow
March 11, 1931
How
solemn
each patch of grass
illumined by the moon
Autumn 1932
Having
entered monastery
I now know
my life is less than a dewdrop
Autumn 1932
Splendid
affinity
sun's great halo
green leaves
May 5, 1933
Straw
sandals tossed aside
approaching distant mountain slopes
haze!
Spring 1935
Bowing
to Hakuin's Stupa at Ryutaku-ji in Mishima
Endless
is my vow
under the azure sky
boundless autumn
Autumn 1937
May
this maple leaf
from Hakuin's stupa
cross the ocean
Autumn 1937
On
the occasion of the Death of Inido Sensei
One
note of the shakuhachi
resounds endlessly
piercing the winter clouds
Winter 1938
A
nun has come to visit
now in the moonlight
how bright the icicles!
Winter 1938
Disappearing
snow
on mountain peak
unfurls a rainbow
April 1938
Spring
approaches
the Pacific Ocean
will be my sitting mat
March 1949
Vast
emptiness
as the year comes to a close
I re-enter the mountain
December 1949
Your
slightest sorrow --
how dense the summer forest! --
my sorrow deepens
Summer 1949
Wisteria
blossoms
fading
saha world
Spring 1953
Step
by step
a new-born lamb
eternal spring
Spring 1955
ZEN
HAIKU OF SOEN NAKAGAWA
Endless
is my vow
under the azure sky
boundless autumn
Out
in the blizzard
a monk sits
life and death matter
Vast
solitude
my thinning body
transparents autumn
Touching
one another
each becomes
a pebble of the world
On his travels, Soen Nakagawa Roshi liked to pick up pebbles from the different countries he visited and place them in a bag. Swinging the bag around, he would listen to the sound they made.
Snow
of all countries
Melting into
Namu Dai Bosa.
Sound
of mountain
sound of ocean
everywhere spring rain.
DANCE—
Into
the zendo
Twilight maples
Come [dancing]
Soen—perhaps the zaniest Zen master of modern times—was, among other things, an accomplished haiku poet, and this was one of his favorite verses. It is featured in his book "Ten Haiku of My Choice." Soen often recalled the crimson leaves dancing in the twilight of the meditation hall at Ryutaku-ji in Japan, and he frequently brushed this poem. Here the character for dance forms a one-word barrier that is really moving.
HOME
Wherever
I go
My HOME is here
This Boar Year!
The inscription, formed around the large character for HOME, is one of Soen's haiku. Soen spent much of his life traveling far abroad, but his real home was always Japan, and as he wrote in his poetic diary in January of 1971: "Mine is a homeless home and a selfless self."
中川宋淵の俳句集
人と馬親しみ合へる夜寒かな
手術衣に糊のこはばる夜寒哉
時計二つ音を合はせる夜寒哉
子鼠の梁渡る夜寒かな
物音の隣まぢかき夜寒哉
生きて此処に湯の香いたゞく夜寒かな
荷ぐるみに駅を追はれし夜寒かな
寥々と秋は澄みゆく身のほそり
立秋の大日輪に歩み入 る
泳ぎつく魚の白さよ今朝の 秋
嶺近く新涼の身をひるがへ す
たらちねと湯にゐる二百十日か な
死相得しことにはふれず秋なか ば
秋彼岸近づく経をよみ習 ふ
晩秋や山越えて来し人の 顔
晩秋や蔵の中吹く風の 音
晩秋や藪ころげ出る栗のい が
浮世なほ酒に酔ひ哭く秋のくれ
生みたての卵掌におく秋の 暮
秋の夜は夢を見て又泣くばか り
爽かに眼の光る別れ哉
秋深き石の小臼のおきどこ ろ
ゆく秋のわれにあつまる異族の 目
おん像遥かの雲に鳥渡 る
樹海晴れてはや渡り来る小鳥 哉
鶸啼いて君が住む山寒から ん
氷ともならで鴫鳴く夜明か な
花の世の花のやうなる人ばか り
紅葉の色きはまりて風を絶 つ
竹の子の夜更けて生る露の中
聖燭に更けゆく露の身な里けり
Haiku in Nakagawa's own hand
(短冊 tanzaku)
