So how would a deer living in an evergreen pine forest sense the onset of Autumn?
Well...if you treat the answer artistically for a moment as did Nakagawa Otsuyu, you may conclude the deer, lonely in the woods, frightened and unable to measure its life's pace by the changing of the season, suddenly bolts down from the mountain and through the forest.
Arriving at the foot of the mountain the deer, running full speed through the meadow below, glances back from where it came and screams, frightened by where it had been but relieved to be free in the sunshine amongst leaf-strewn Oaks and Maples.
Deer, a haiku painting, was created by Ise poet Nakagawa Otsuyu (1675 - 1739) - he is also known as Bakurin. I enjoy this painting for the way it very simply and beautifully shows a deer bounding out of the mountain, at least as I imagine it.
Notice the three hump-shaped brush strokes painted from the picture's upper right edge, continuing diagonally down through the deer's body, then up, then down, as the shape of the bottom of the calligraphy? I really like that...
The haiku poem written in highly stylized calligraphy above is as follows:
| Title: Deer | Poet: Nakagawa Otsuyu |
|---|---|
| English translation | Japanese |
| The mountain no deer's cry has reached is still green. | shika no ne no todokanu yama wa mada aoshi |
Poem from article: Haiga : Takebe Sōchō and the Haiku-painting tradition
Do you suppose the mountain remains green in Autumn due to indifference to the deer's distress, or might there be some boring botanical explanation?
Please comment and share your thoughts.
The moubtain remains green due to a delayed season change recognized but not understood by the dear.
ReplyDeleteNow wait just a minute dad :-). That is almost the kind of explanation I might expect from a botanist!
ReplyDeletePretty clever though. How about this variation on your interpretation:
"The mountain remains green due to forces of nature unseen; recognized but not understood by the dear."
I really like that. Can it be at all interpreted otherwise having read this?
Maybe the mountain stays green because no dear was crying. Though it doesn't explain the "still"
ReplyDeleteActually, I like the "delayed season change" explanation but it is not very artfully put...if only there was some more fulfilling explanation underlying this one...
Deletewhere can i buy haiga prints?
ReplyDeleteThe Deer's call often signalled to villagers that autumn (the reddening and falling of leaves) started. It's quite a beautiful poem that suggests a mountain can stay green (summer) if it never hears the deer, almost as if the deer is the harbinger of autumn. While impossible for this to happen, and I would think the authour knew that, the writing creates a fleeting thought about the fading of the summer.
ReplyDeleteThat's at least what I think.