Haiku and Sandangire

Hiroaki Sato compiled a very important book at his place and time. [1]
(I was impressed with his solo renku. I did imitate this subgenre in Arion, the most popular poetry magazine in Moscow.)

A decade ago I was fascinated by Mr. Sato's research into many translations of the famous haiku by Basho

San—three,
dan—step or stair or stage,
gire—cutting word or kireji.

The math of haiku gives us the three versions of genre:

*the first line [kireji] the second line fused with the third one,

**the first line fused with the second one [kireji] the third line,

***the first line fused with the second one fused with the third one [kireji], this version is approximated by a one-phrase, one-sentence haiku.

The cutting word in Japanese haiku is a must.
The cutting words in the end might be either “kana” or a strong noun.


The famous frog haiku got the cutting word after the first line; it is “ya.” So many translations missed it and thus they are not faithful to the venerated original with its patina of time and use.

The much recommended book by Hiroaki Sato One Hundred Frogs, From Renga To Haiku in English gives such a true translation by Clarence Matsuo Allard

ancient pond—
a frog jumping into its splash.

Early on, Basil Hall Chamberlain mastered this interpretation

The old pond, aye! And the sound of frog leaping into the water

Lorraine Ellis Harr also penned a methodical verbless translation

Mossy pond:
   Plunging frog's
              water-blip.


old ponde      the jumping frog's sound of water.

This translation of mine was born after long discussion with Kay Higuchi and John Ziemba on sandangire, the percieved three-partness of haiku. Yes, three lines. But only one cutting word! And thus, two parts.
My translation also gives a verbless translation; the verblessness is often desirable in poetry.
Here is the long excerpt from the book, pages 151-175. Enjoy!

“Masaoka Shiki

The old mere!
A frog jumping in
The wound of water


Lafcadio Hearn

Old pond—frogs jumped in—sound of water.


W.G. Aston

An ancient pond!
With a sound from the water
Of the frog as it plunges in.



Clara A. Walsh

An old-time pond, from off whose shadowed depth
Is heard the splash where some lithe frog leaps in.


William J. Porter

         Stillness
   Into the calm old lake
A frog with flying leap goes plop!
   The peaceful hush to break.


Gertrude Emerson

Old pond, aye! And the sound of a frog jumping in.


Yone Noguchi

The old pond!
A frog leapt into—
List, the water sound!


Curtis Hidden Page

A lonely pond in age-old stillness sleep…
Apart, unstirred by sound or motion…till
Suddenly into it a lithe frog leaps.


Inazo Nitobe

Into an old pond
A frog took a sudden plunge,
Then is heard a splash.


John Thomas Bryan

There is the old pond!
Lo, into it jumps a frog:
Hark, water’s music!


Asataro Miyamori

The old pond!
A frog has plunged—
   The splash!

Into the calm old pond
A frog plunged—then the splash.


Hidesaburo Sato

Old garden lake!
 The frog thy depth doth seek,
And sleeping echoes wake.


Minoru Toyoda

An ancient pond!
 A frog leaps in;
 The sound of the water!


Harold G. Henderson

An ancient pond;
 Plash of the water
  When a frog jumps in.


Fumiko Saisho

Fu-ru(old) i-ke(pond)ya, ka-wa-zu(frog) to-bi-ko-mu
(jumping into) mi-zu(water) no o-to(sound)


Inazo Nitobe

An old pond—
A frog jumps in—
A splash of water.


Daisetz T. Suzuki

Into the ancient pond
A frog jumps
Water’s sound!


R.H. Blyth

The old pond.
  A frog jumps in—
    Plop!


Kenneth Yasuda

Ancient pond unstirred
Into which a frog has plunged,
 A splash was heard.


R.H. Blyth

  The old pond;
A frog jumps in, —
 The sound of the water.


G.S Fraser

The old pond, yes!
A frog jumping in.
The water’s noise!

The old pond, yes, and
A frog-jumping-in-the-
Water’s noise!

Old pond, yes, and
Frog-jump-in-
Water’s noise.

Old pond, yes, and
Frog jump in!
Water’s noise!


Donald Keene

The ancient pond
A frog leaps in
The sound of the water.

The ancient pond, a frog jumps in, the sound of the water.


Kenneth Rexroth

An old pond—
The sound
Of a diving frog.


Peter Beilenson

OLD DARK SLEEPY POOL…
 QUICK UNEXPECTED
 FROG
GOES PLOP! WATERSPLASH!


Harold G. Henderson

Old pond;
 Frog jump-in
  Water-sound.

Old-pond   :  frog jump-in   : water-sound

Old pond—
 and a frog-jump-in
   water-sound


Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai
(an institution)

The old pond!
A frog jumps in—
Sound of the water.


Hiroshi Takamine

Oh, into the old pond
 A frog plunged,
  With a splash!
    (And once again calm prevails!)


Anonymous(as cited in the Times Literary Supplement)

Ancient pond;
frog jumps in;
sound of water.


cid corman

old pond
frog leaping
splash


Daisetz T. Suzuki

The old pond, ah!
A frog jumps in:
The water’s sound.


Harold Stewart

The old green pond is silent; here the hop
Of a frog plumbs the evening stillness: plop!


Shunkichi Akimoto

   Into the old pond
    Leaps a frog
Lo, the sound of the water.


Peter Beilenson and Harry Behn

AN OLD SILENT POND…
 INTO THE POND
 A FROG JUMS,
APLASH! SILENCE AGAIN.


Edward G. Seidensticker

The quiet pond
 A frog leaps in,
  The sound of the water.


Dion O'Donnol

AYE, THE OLD POND AND
                A
                F
                R
                O
                G
                T
                H
                A
                T'
                S
                A
                L
                E
                P
                I
                N
                G
                I
                N
                T
                H
                E
                W
                A
                T
                E
                R

It's a changed rendering; buy the book to glimpse it as an author wanted us to see.


Harry Behn

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


Geoffrey Bownas and Anthony Thwaite

An old pond
A frog jumps in—
Sound of water.


Masaru V. Otake

The old pond,
Frog jumps in—
The sound of water.


Nobuyuki Yuasa

Breaking the silence
Of an ancient pond,
A frog jumped into water—
A deep resonance.


Scott Alexander

By an ancient pond
a bullfrog sits on a rock
waiting for Basho?
Sylvia Cassedy and Kunihiro Suetake

Old pond, blackly still—
frog, plunging into water,
splinters silent air.

Old pond :
frog jump in
water-sound


Dion O’Donnol

   The silent old pond
a mirror of ancient calm,
  a frog-leaps-in splash…

Anonymous (as cited in Don’t Tell the Scarecrow)

The old pond.
A frog jumps into the water—
SPLASH.


Edward Bond

Silent old pool
Frog jumps
Kdang!


Cana Maeda

old pond
 a frog in-leaping
  water-note


G. S. Fraser

The old pond, yes, and
A frog is jumping into
The water and splash.

Old pond, yes, and
Frog jumping into
The water’s noise.

Old pond, yes,
Frog there jumping,
Water’s noise.


Armando Martins Janeira

Ah, the old pond
A frog jumps in
Sound of water.


Makoto Ueda

The old pond—
A frog leaps in,
And a splash.


William J. Higginson

Old pond…
 a frog leaps in
  water’s sound


Robert H. Brower

 The ancient pond:
A frog jumps in—
 The sound of water.


William Howard Cohen

Mossy pond ;
frog leaping in—
splash!


Kenjun Ikeda

The old pond!
A frog jumps in
With splash-splosh.


Daniel C. Buchanan

into the old pond
A frog suddenly plunges.
The sound of water.


Dorothy Britton

Listen! A frog
 Jumping into the stillness
  Of an ancient pond!


Joan Giroux

An old pond
A frog jumps in
The sound of the water.


Alfred H. Marks

The old pond:
A frog jumps in, ---
The sound of the water

(limerick)

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.

(sonnet)

A frog who would a-water-sounding go
Into some obscure algae-covered pool
Had best be sure no poetizing fool
Is waiting in the weeds and, to his woe,
Commemorates his pluck so all will know
His name and lineage, not for the fine school
He learned to sing at, nor, to make men drool
The flavor of  his leg from thigh to toe.
He will not for his mother be remembered,
Nor for his father’s deeds, his honor bright,
Nor for his brother’s leg dismembered,
And eaten by a king with rare delight.
He will be famous simply for the sort of
Noise he makes just when he hits the water.

Basho

Swoop!
Green, bug-eyed, wingless, conquering air,
earth-thrusting legs outstretched in triumph;
descending,
striking,
submerging in jade, groundless depths.
And above
the jet thrown high tumbles,
the shaken air composes to silence;\
the rings of water spread, strike shore,
return colliding and subside.


Robert Aitken

Old pond  !  / Frog jumps in   / water’s sound

 The old pond;
A frog jumps in—
The sound of the water.

He old pond has no walls.
The frog simply jumped in,
And his sound does not echo at all.


Felix-Marti Ibanez

The old pond!
  A frog jumps :
   Sound of water!


Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto

Old pond,
Leap-splash—
a frog.


Robert Aitken

The old pond;
A frog jumps in—
The sound of the water.

(word-for-word)

Old pond!
frog jumps in
water of sound

the old pond has no walls;
A frog just jumps in;
Do you say there is an echo?


Earl Miner

  The still old pond
and as a frog leaps in it
  the sound of a splash


Allen Ginsberg

The old pond
A frog jumped in,
Kerplunk!


Earl Miner and Hiroko Odagiri

  The old pond is still
a frog leaps right into it
  Sashing the water


Yoko Danno

Old-pond—a frog
leaps in
water sound


Bill Deemer

   HIGH KUKU

I enlightened Basho,
recalled the Frog,
but he scared me!


Bernard Lionel Einbond

Antic pond—
Frantic frog jumps in—
Gigantic sound.

Into an old pond,
a leaping frog tumbles—
the sound of water

An old pond—
a frog tumbles in—
the water’s sound.

From “Insomnia in Haiku Form”
16

Unable to sleep—
I imagine an old pond,
and a frog jumps in.


Robert Anthony Fagan

From “Travels”

hey
the frog’s fallen
in the pond
splash


Ross Figgins

Some Notes on the old Pond

After working with this for a while, I can’t resist a pun.
I don’t know the legitimacy of word plays in translations,
But…

old pond,
  frog jump in—
    a sound question

The next is an attempt to capture the sound by bracketing it between the interrupted moments of silence. The ambiguity is intended.
 
         old  pond,
           a frog leaps in—
              a moment after, silence

And finally a more literal interpretation.

   old pond—
     the sound
 of a frog and water

 
transliteration

…old…pond…
…frog…leap…
…water sound…




transvisions

stillness…
a frog pond ploomp!
makes it breathe.

the universe…                ab-sence             (samsara)
a froglet moves it                bare attention      (satipatthana)
listen……………                presence               (nirvana)

silent mystery..                dead pond
a tiny frog                tiny frog
sounds its depths.                live mind

the wordless Word :                nay
a frog-pond plop                yea
makes it heard.                aye
                ?
                !
                .

                bearded pond,
                tickled by frog,
                says,  “ugh!”…& smiles.

                my mind was still
                till Basho’s frog
                made it ripple.

                pond plus frog is what?:
                splash? plash? or plop?
                Plop? Ploomp? or flop?



Lorraine Ellis Harr

The quiet pond;
And a frog jumps
Splash!


The old pond:
 A frog jumps into it—
               Plip/plop

Quiet pond:
                Frog-jumps-in
                Plop-sound.

A quiet pond;
 A frog jumps
                kersplat!

Blip!
        A frog plunges
                into the pond.

Mossy pond:
Plunging frog’s
                Water-blip.

Quiet old pool:
                Blip!
a frog jumps-in.

Water-cluck:
Into the old pond
                a frog jumps

  Old mossy pond;
A frog jumps
                blip/splat

Blip/splat!
Into the old mossy pond
                a frog jumps—


Lindley Willams Hubbell

I’ve made two tries:
   
   An old pond
   A frog jumping
   Sound of water

but after reading Curtis Hidden Page I felt that my version was terribly unpoetical, so I tried again:

   Oh thou unrippled pool of quietness
   Upon whose shimmering surface, like the tears
   Of olden days, a small batrachian leaps,
   The while aquatic sounds assail our ears.


Hisao Kanaseki

an old pond:
noise of frogs
leaping in


James Kirkup

Age-old pond stillness.
Jump of a frog disturbs it
With a little plop.

pond
          frog
                plop!


Frank Kuenstler

from EMPIRE

Once upon a time there was a frog
Once upon a time there was a pond
Splash.


William Matheson

from “Ten Variations on Basho’s POND AND FROG Haiku”

III

Jumpe, jumpe, little Frogge!
Water soundeth
All aroundeth
In thyss olde Bogge.


VII

------ah vecchio stagno---
------una rana ha saltato
     .  .  . dell’acqua il suono .  .  .


R.Clarence Matsuo-Allard

ancient pond—
  a frog jumping into its splash


Clare Nikt

Hear the lively song
of the frog in
BrrrBrrrBrrrptyBrrrrrrrrrrlp
Plash!


Michael O’Brien

My Noble Lord:
The cat just pissed on the Basho translations.
O ancient lake!


Maureen Owen

The Origin of Haiku
                For Basho

The little frog      lost his footing


Ron Padgett
           “Advertising translation”

Old pond
frog jumps in
plop plop fizz fizz


Cyril Patterson

Without pondering its next leap,
           a bullfrog makes its splash!

The spirit
of the old pond is
frog-bound.

A             a
pon          fat
der           old
ous           frog
oc             goes
ca
sion           plop!

Finality—
a bullfrog croaks beside
the lily pond.

Zen leap—
a bullfrog makes its
splash!


Without pondering
its next leap,
a bullfrog makes its
splash!

One frog flattened
on the road—
another croaks beside
the lily pond.

From the pond’s edge,
a bullfrog PLOPS into
oblivion.


Barbara Ruch

An old green pond.
A small green frog dives in.
The ping of water.


Eleanor Wolff

Age-old pool ya
A frog jumps into
the water: the sound of it

Old old pond ya
Sound, as a frog jumps in,
of water….

George M. Young, Jr.


After perusing Basho’s Furuike, I checked, and sure enough found in my file of yellowing newspaper clippings the following notice:

MFIA HIT-MAN POET: NOTE FOUND PINNED TO LAPEL OF DROWNED VICTIM’S DOUBLE-BREASTED SUIT! ! ! !

Dere wasa dis frog
Gone Jumpa offa da log
Now he inna bogg.
                —Anonymous”

Thank you for dusting the old haiku and its numerous translations.
We did it together. I am sure it was worth it. Not many references exist on the subject. To be precise, only three can be found on the Internet. The French say, “Conversely, a juxtaposition of three images (sandangire) seemingly unrelated, gives the effect called "shopping list" which often also undermines the emotion.”
The Japanese elaborate, “Haiku must retain the quality of kire (break) in the underlying meaning and in its syllabic formation.
Sandan  (3-formations) and gire (break) are meant to put breaks
in each metric unit(5-7-5).
Haiku with sandangire doesn't follow the standard fixed haiku
rhythm.
But from time to time, it can emphasize the meaning effectively.
 
fuyu no cho / ichiwa maitatsu / sojyo yori              Keiko or Keishi?
winter butterfly / one departs / from the petition
(writing a complaint, the note of translator)
 
Kami-go (first unit 5) is fuyu no cho (winter butterfly), which is
a substantive shape and form. And naka-schichi (second unit 7) is ichiwa maitatsu (one departs), which is the end-form.
 
If you write this haiku without sandan-gire, you get
 
sojyo yori / ichiwa maitatsu fuyu no cho
from a petition / one departing winter butterfly
 
The famous  sandangire haiku are below:
 
me ni wa aoba / yama-hototogisu / hatsu-gatsuo             Sodo
green leaves to my eyes / mountain hototogisu / the first-bonito
 
narananae / shichido garan / yae-zakura                Basho
seven generation-Nara/seven Buddhist temples/eightfold-sakura/
 
The scenes are given without using verbs.”
As a result, they create their own world vividly.   And we are left with a bit more theory and the new facets of popular and often venerated haiku.
I would venture to say that the 5-7-5 haiku taught in American schools and espoused by media got their Big Bang point at the sandangire haiku and the many skewed translations of classic haiku. A lot of “vulgar haiku” books and contests sprung from these translations of our frog pond haiku by Basho. You may see the articles in the The Nor'Easter (the New England magazine of The Haiku Society of America) and numerous books on Amazon [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10].



1  Hiroaki Sato, One Hundred Frogs: From Renga to Haiku in English,Kodansha 1995
2   www.point-critique.com/2014_07_01_archive.html.
3   www.doctor-senryu.com/.../yougoziten/sandangire.html.
4  Shanna Duncan, Mommy Haiku,         Kindle Edition                2015
6  John Sandbach,  Ceiling at Night    Kindle Edition                2014
7  Peyton Price,  Suburban Haiku       Kindle Edition                2013
8   Ryan Mecum, Vampire Haiku                2009
9   Awarewolf,  Cosmic Rapture                2014
10 Kevin Gillespie, Death of the Haiku:Book One                2015