Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos in Japanese Calligraphy

稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露 inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos

At a flash of lightning, the sound of dew spilling from the bamboo.

A flash of lightning The sound of dew Dripping down the bamboos	inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu	稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露
Buson	buson	蕪村

稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露 (inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu): at a flash of lightning, the sound of dew spilling from the bamboo. 稲妻 is lightning, the autumn season word; こぼるる音 is the sound of something spilling over, which is what dew does from a leaf; や holds the line after the sound; 竹の露 is the dew on the bamboo, shaken loose by the flash. The word is dew. The first print reads 露, and so does every later edition except two books of 1925 and their reissues, which print the bamboo's voice instead. Lightning is the loudest thing in the sky and makes no sound here; what is heard is dew, the quietest thing in the grove, heard because the flash has made the listener still. The English follows R. H. Blyth's, from his Haiku of 1952.

Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos (稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露) in Block style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos 稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露 inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu Vertical Block VB6C

Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos (稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露) in Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos 稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露 inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu Vertical Cursive VC4B

Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos 稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露 inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu Vertical Cursive VC6B

Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos (稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露) in Design style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos 稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露 inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu Vertical Design VD6B

Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos 稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露 inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu Vertical Design VD7B

Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos (稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos 稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露 inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu Vertical Semi-Cursive VS6C

More about 稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露

The verse is Buson's, first printed in 1784 in the 蕪村句集, the selection of his verse that his disciple Kitō 几董 published the winter after the poet's death; no witness dates its composition.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露.

About the Designs

Each design is Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase's hand-brushed calligraphy of the word or phrase on this page, delivered as a PDF you can print. Every PDF includes the line art, so a tattoo artist or a craftsperson can work from the outline as well as the brushed image.

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Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos (inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu)

Haiku by Buson on a traditional Japanese Scroll by Master Eri Takase.

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Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos as a hand-brushed scroll

Master Takase personally brushes your scroll when you order, and it bears her red seal and her signature. The scroll has real silk borders and layered Japanese paper, so it hangs straight, and it arrives ready to display.