Haiku by Ryota

They spoke no words.
The visitor, the host,
And the white chrysanthemum.

ものいはず客と亭主と白菊と (mono iwazu kyaku to teishu to shiragiku to): saying nothing, the guest, and the host, and the white chrysanthemum. ものいはず is saying nothing, the only verb in the poem and a negative one; 客と亭主と is the guest and the host joined by と, and the third と after 白菊, the white chrysanthemum, an autumn season word, puts the flower in the same list on the same terms. The poem is its grammar: three who say nothing, and the flower is the third guest, sat with rather than looked at. It is Ōshima Ryōta's, from his own collection, the 蓼太句集; Ryōta, 1718 to 1787, preached a return to Bashō and is said to have had three thousand pupils. Shiki copied the verse into his manuscript compilation of 1889 twice, once under white chrysanthemum and once under verses that end in と. The English is R. H. Blyth's, from his Haiku of 1949, with one word changed.

One can imagine this as a setting for a tea ceremony - the host and the guest appreciate the white chrysanthemums in its place of honor.

Calligraphy Notes:

1) Students of Japanese know that when the hiragana は (ha) is used as a grammatical particle it is read "wa". So, for example, the sentence これはペンです is read "kore wa pen desu" and not "kore ha pen desu".

Prior to hiragana being codified in modern times, the hiragana は was also used in words to represent the sound "wa". In these designs, we use the convention at the time of the poet so instead of the modern いわず (iwazu), we use the now archaic いはず (iwazu). And to emphasize, the reading is the same, only the characters are different.

Translation Notes:

ものいはず
客と亭主と
白菊と

1) もの (mono) - meaning "things; something; anything; everything; nothing;".

2) いはず (iwazu) - not spoken. Negative of the verb 言う (iu) meaning "to say; to speak"

ものいはず thus becomes "nothing was spoken".

3) 客 (kyaku) - meaning "visitor; guest".

4) と (to) - meaning "and".

5) 亭主 (teishu) - meaning "master; lord; host".

6) と (to) - see (4) above.

7) 白菊 (shiragiku) - meaning "white chrysanthemum".

6) と (to) - see (4) above.