Mizu No Oto Haiku Contest, Edition 45

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photo by @marcoriccardi

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undisturbed pond -
a muskrat contemplates
making a wake

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After reading this edition's elaboration on the various types of haiku by @marcoriccardi, I decided to give writing a honkadori of a famous haiku a shot.

It was easy enough to find a haiku to use - I simply searched the term famous haiku and the one below by @marcoriccardi's oft quoted Matsuo Bashō seemed perfect for this edition's prompt. This haiku was written sometime in the late 1600's, and has been translated from Japanese I assume.

An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.

-Matsuo Bashō

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The haiku in bold is my entry to @bananafish's excellent haiku contest which you can find here.
The photo is the prompt.
Here is where I found Matsuo Bashō's haiku.

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8 comments
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Goal! You achieved a haiku adjusted to the image and the teaching of marcoriccardi in this edition. Well done!

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Thank you for your very kind comment! I take these VERY SERIOUSLY. This is my favorite contest on steem.

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I love your haiku! I should try one again some day. I like the wake.

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Oh please do. Writing these is my favorite thing to do on steem

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Each time this contest surprises me a lot. You and Josemalavem both took the same haiku by Matsuo Basho and got one honkadori, but you took the first ku and Jose the second:

古池や蛙飛びこむ水の音

furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto

that old pond!
a frog jumps inside
sound of water

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That is much better than the translation I worked from! Is the Japanese the original? And I think you already told me this, but mizu no oto means sound of water?
How interesting. The translation I used, which I put in my post, is 5/7/5. This is a great example of fewer syllables being needed in English.
I was also trying to make a parallel between a different aspect of the pond. Matsuo Basho's talks about the sounds, mine talks about the surface shapes.
Thank you for the discussion!

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Yes, the Japanese is the original haiku by Matsuo Basho. I think its the most famous haiku in the world. Your translation is by Harry Behn, but it's quite a free rendition.

This is the literal meaning of the words:

furu (old) ike (pond) ya (kireji word meaning emphasis),
kawazu (frog) tobikomu (jumping into)
mizu (water) no ('s) oto (sound)

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