No More Sake ~ Haiku of Japan

almost 2 years ago

When I read this week's prompt, Addiction, I immediately thought of Santōka, the beloved drunk Zen monk who wandered back and forth across Japan on foot, drinking and writing haiku the entire way.

I've shared many of his haiku referring to drinking in the past. Here's another:

酒はない月しみじみ観ており
sake wa nai tsuki shimijimi mite ori

no more saké
blankly staring
at the moon

—Santōka

(trans. David LaSpina^[1])

^{Rising Moon at Katase River by Kasamatsu}

I think we've all experienced this. When we have that buzz and feel good, it's so easy to want another to extend the good feeling. When another isn't available, we might just zone out and stare.

Santōka's tragic upbringing (which I told of here) led to him falling into drinking fairly early in life. It was an addiction he would never be free of. Even after his failed suicide attempt (made while drunk) and being ordained as a Zen monk, he could never conquer his drinking. His diary reads like one might expect of an alcoholic. He would promise himself no more drinking, write about how his addiction had ruined his life, write hopefully about turning it all around. Then the very next entry would be about getting drunk and passing out in a field. This desire to beat his problem and inability to do so repeated endlessly in his diary until his death.

Here is the haiku I shared in that previous post:

ぼろ売って酒買うてさみしくもあるか
boro utte sake kōte samishiku mo aru ka

if I sell my rags
and buy saké
will I still be lonely?

❦

	David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.