Haiku by Buson

In the moonlight,
the color and scent of the wisteria,
seems so far away

月に遠くおぼゆる藤の色香かな (tsuki ni tōku oboyuru fuji no iroka kana): under the moon, the wisteria's color and scent seem far. 月に遠く is far from the moon, or far, under the moon, and the verse turns on which; おぼゆる is the classical seems, is felt to be, the only verb in it; 藤 is wisteria, the late-spring season word, and 色香 is one word for its color and scent together; かな closes it. The verse comes from Buson's posthumous papers, the 蕪村遺稿. In 1903 three men of Shiki's circle read it together and argued what the distance is: Meisetsu drew a triangle of moon, wisteria and poet; Hekigotō said the geometry is beside the point and the verse praises the hour; Kyoshi said the color is blurred in moonlight and seems far, and that the scent only seems far because the rhythm carries the word along. Reiyoshi settled it for most readers in 1921: were the moon bright the flowers would seem near, and because it is faint they seem far, and that dimness is the scene. Blyth translated it twice and took each side once. The English is Timothy L. Jackowski's, made for Takase Studios.