A Poignant Verse and Obsession with Minase Sankin Hyukuin

Hi all,
I hope you read and enjoyed my last post. That post celebrated my reading of the first 8 verses from the classic japanese poem Minase Sankin Hyakuin.

So how did I get hooked on this poem?

Well, in some obscure document, while I was browsing through the SAAM library archives, I discovered the single most poignant verse I have ever set eyes upon - it conveyed this sad emotion using only 31 syllables.

Here is the verse:

Minase Sangin A Poignant Verse	Poets: Sogi, Shohaku, Socho
English translation by: Nobuyuki Yasa	Japanese
In a sorrowful voice A cricket is heard singing Beneath the withering grass. I paid a call to a friend of mine, Taking a desolate lane by the hedge.	nakumushi no kokoro motonaku kusa karete kakine o toeba arawanaru michi

The verse has greatest emotional impact (to me) when read in isolation from the larger poem - the context is different, and this verse inspired my search for all 100 verses of Minase Sankin Hyakuin, eight of which I posted yesterday.

I think I have all 100 verses now, after possibly finding them in a recent visit to the SAAM library, so you may be seeing more Minase Sankin Hyakuin blog posts in the future :-).