Update: Published in The Bulletin: a journal of Japanese Canadian community, history & culture (January 2015 issue)
Not one traveller
braves this road –
autumn night
— Haiku by Matsuo Basho, from On Love and Barley: Haiku by Basho, Tr. by Lucien Stryk ;
illustrated by Old Pond Comics
winter rain –
time to unseal
the new tea!
– A haiku by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue, illustrated by Old Pond Comics
winter wind –
tens of thousands of birds
cursing!
– A haiku by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue, illustrated by Old Pond Comics
midwinter bathing –
his head, the moon
in the water
– A haiku by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue, illustrated by Old Pond Comics
sitting room –
a crow drops
a snowball
– A haiku by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue, illustrated by Old Pond Comics
The last snow pile –
even the sparrows
make fun of it
– A haiku by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue, illustrated by Old Pond Comics
a man emerges
from the roof of a boat…
a winter storm
– A haiku by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue, illustrated by Old Pond Comics
The image in Issa’s haiku (of man emerging from the roof of a boat at sea) reminded me of a drowning insect clinging on a twig in a puddle.
I decided not to show the wasp in the comic: you can tell by the expression on Kaeru’s face that the wasp is walking closer and closer.
winter rain
led by a cow
to Zenko temple
– A haiku by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue, illustrated by Old Pond Comics
my snowball
the horse
ate it
– A haiku by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue, illustrated by Old Pond Comics
Old Pond Comics 