夜の蘭香にかくれてや花白し yoru no ran ka ni kakurete ya hana shiroshi Buson - An evening orchid, Hidden in its scent, The flower's whiteness

Yosa Buson's verse is about which sense wins at night. In the dark the orchid's leaves and stem cannot be seen, and its scent grows stronger. The plant seems to hide inside what it gives off. What is left to the eye is the flower, white. Some readers find the phrasing cleverer than the feeling, and others hear the feeling in the noticing.

In the Japanese, 夜の蘭 is the orchid at night, and 蘭 is an autumn season word. 香にかくれてや is hidden in its scent, with や a cry of wonder at the hiding. 花白し is a plain statement, the flower is white. 香 is read ka here, as the meter needs. One of the hands writes 夜 and 白し in kana, as よる and しろし.

The English follows R. H. Blyth's, from his Haiku of 1952.

The verse is Buson's, first printed in 1784 in the 蕪村句集, the book of his verse that his pupil Kitō published for the first anniversary of his death.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 夜の蘭香にかくれてや花白し.

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