Haiku by Buson

An evening orchid,
Hidden in its scent,
The flower's whiteness

夜の蘭香にかくれてや花白し (yoru no ran ka ni kakurete ya hana shiroshi): the orchid at night, hidden in its scent; the flower is white. 夜の蘭 is the orchid at night, 蘭 an autumn season word; 香にかくれてや is hidden in its scent, with や an exclamation at the hiding; 花白し is a plain statement, the flower is white, the one visible thing given back at the end. In daylight an orchid is a shape; at night it is a smell, and the smell grows as the shape goes, until the flower seems to have withdrawn into what it gives off. The verse stands in the 蕪村句集 of 1784, the poet's own late selection, in the autumn section after the morning-glory verses. The English follows R. H. Blyth's, from his Haiku of 1952.

Whenever I read this poem I recall an experience we had when we unknowingly purchased such an orchid. We marveled at the beautiful white flowers which stay in bloom for months. After several days though there was this strong fragrance in the evening that took over the room! After much discussion (and much sniffing) we found the source to be the orchid. Since then we talked little of the white flowers, but often of the fragrance. As Buson suggests, the white flowers became hidden in the scent.

Calligraphy Notes:

1) I have used a mix of hiragana and kanji to vary the look of the designs. As an example all designs use 夜 (yoru) in kanji except VD6A which uses the hiragana よる. The meaning remains the same.

Translation Notes:

夜の蘭
香にかくれてや
花白し

1) 夜 (yoru) meaning "night; evening".

2) 蘭 (ran) meaning "orchid".

3) 香 (ka) meaning "aroma; fragrance; scent; smell".

4) かくれて (kakurete) from the verb 隠れる (kakureru) meaning "to hide; to be hidden; to conceal oneself; to disappear".

5) 花 (hana) meaning "flower; blossom; bloom; petal".

6) 白し (shiroshi) from 白い (shiroi) meaning "white".