Sing Louder ~ Original Haiku
The best part of autumn is hearing the night insects.
i can't hear you
from my bath
Finally the evenings are starting to get cooler here. Maybe the true autumn is finally coming! And with the cooler evening weather, we are getting some night insects, especially the crickets. As I've written before, listening to the night insects in Japan is a very traditional sign of autumn, and one that people have long looked forward to. Me included.
Bathing in Japan is another long tradition. Growing up in the States, taking a bath was always considered a thing for children only. Some adults might enjoy it, but bathtubs in general are too small for adult sized people to really enjoy soaking, which may aid the image that they are only for kids. In Japan, however, bathing is considered much more important for everyone. Bathtubs are much deeper so that the water level can be at shoulder height and we can really soak and relax.
Both of these traditions I have embraced—especially the last. Soaking in a hot bath at the end of the day is one of those small pleasures that really make the end of the day so much more enjoyable.
The other day I was listening to the crickets after the sun went down. It was getting late so I wanted to go take my bath, but then I was disappointed that I couldn't hear them anymore from the small window in my bathroom. Mentally I started urging them to sing louder. Then I realized I had a haiku.
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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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Pavarotti No.2 ?
haha maybe so!
Well, it was simple and nice, conveys a lot of the context included, though I wanted more details, a bit short for my liking.
If you think that's short, you should see it translated to Japanese. To maintain the haiku form, it would have to become even shorter.
This is the time of year that my wife and I secretly fight over the bedroom windows. I open them before bed to enjoy the cool air and hear the crickets, and she closes them because she gets cold easily and has no interest in hearing the nighttime insects. 🤣
haha I can imagine that. Luckily my wife also enjoys sleeping with the windows open—she also gets cold easily but just wears more and wraps up in the futon—but she has no interest in the night insects we hear and always wonders why I make such a big deal about it.
I always comment on how green the rice is in July (Niigata is covered in an emerald blanket), and my wife is like, Do I really have to hear you talk about this every year? Get over it. It’s green here.
My wife hates crickets. I'm not sure what she expects when we are able to have the windows open a night, but I know she always complains about the crickets. I'm just happy that I haven't had to run the AC for like a month straight!
I wonder what she would think of the Japanese crickets, which sound a little different from what we get in the midwest.
Oh really? I'm gonna have to YouTube that now...
Great job creating a haiku in the tub! I don't mind crickets outside buy when is inside it drives me insane!
haha well if inside, that could be a bit loud. I might be a little annoyed by that too.
Finally the evenings are starting to get cooler here. Maybe the true autumn is finally coming! And with the cooler evening weather, we are getting some night insects, especially the crickets.... Your work is very interesting but try capturing those experiences with photos. It will be better.
It is poetry, you know. Poetry is almost always words without photos.
I love the sound of crickets, well, cycadas I guess, for me it's the sound of summer and I love - our - summer. And soaking baths - they are just wonderful but you're right most of them in the western world are just not big, not deep enough. A long time ago I rented a house in Australia and it came with an old clawfoot tub - now THAT was wonderfully deep, no overlow safety thingie - just nice.