ものいはず客と亭主と白菊と mono iwazu kyaku to teishu to shiragiku to Ryōta - They spoke no words, The visitor the host, And the white chrysanthemum

Ryōta's verse is a visit where three share a silence. The white chrysanthemum is one of the company, and it says nothing, like the guest and the host. With a flower as the third, the silence is a comfortable one.

In the Japanese, the verse has one verb, and it is a negative: ものいはず, saying nothing. The small word と, which means and, comes three times, so the guest, the host and the white chrysanthemum make one list. The flower, 白菊, marks the season as autumn. Some designs spell a word another way, writing 言はず with the kanji 言, or the flower's name in kana, しらぎく. The words are the same.

The English follows R. H. Blyth's, from his Haiku of 1949, with one word changed.

The verse is Ōshima Ryōta's, first printed in 1769 among the chrysanthemum verses in the autumn book of his own collection, 蓼太句集 (Ryōta kushū), published in Edo in his lifetime.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of ものいはず客と亭主と白菊と.

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