In what may be the shortest haiku ever published, 91 years ago Santōka wrote this.

音は時雨か
oto wa shigure ka

that sound—
is it winter drizzle?
—Santōka

(trans. David LaSpina^[1])

^{Sengaku Temple by Tsuchiya Koitsu}

Returning to my favorite free-verse haiku poet, Santōka, we come to what may well be one of the shortest haiku or shortest poems of any time you are every likely to meet. Literally, he writes sound / winter drizzle?. We could even shorten that last word in translation to just drizzle; I add winter to it in my translation to give some degree of context. Shigure is the light drizzle that comes and goes in the brief overlap between autumn and winter. It is never heavy, rather it is a light rain that comes briefly and leaves quickly. It is cold, sometimes even cold enough to partially freeze, so some translate the word as sleet; it marks that dividing line between the color of autumn and the colorless barren landscape of winter.

I don't know if winter drizzle is the best way to sum up these rains. Late autumn drizzle or early winter drizzle might be more accurate, but both are also more of a mouthful. In most saijiki (kigo encyclopedia), shigure is classified as a kigo (season word) for early winter, so that's why I settle on winter drizzle. An argument could easily be made for a different translation, though.

The entire haiku is only 7 syllables in Japanese (technically morae: see here). That's really short!

Santōka wrote this in 1932, around this time. Probably a little before now, given that we are now in mid-winter. In 1932 he had just settled down to a hermitage in Yamaguchi which he named “Gochūan” (其中庵) after a verse in the Lotus Sutra. It was there that he published his first book of haiku. He lived on donations from friends and admirers.

Was Santōka at home, drinking some sake or sorting haiku for inclusion in his book, when suddenly he noticed that hush that comes with a light rain. Hmm... what's that... is it drizzle?

【Also published on my webpage】

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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. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.

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1. That is, me! If you like this translation, feel free to use it. Just credit me. Also link here if you can. ↩