on your death day
I pull the weeds
忌日の草ぬく
the sea and sky spring-colored
on the anniversary of your death
海も空も春のいろ君の忌日にて
thin moon,
the beach house asleep
薄月、濱の家が寝てゐる
sweet potato vines
grow in the field
high tide
畠の芋づるがのびて満潮
darkness
the sparklers
have gone out
暗さ線香花火消えたり
cedars
suddenly dripping
morning–
杉すくすく雫して朝や
dry grass
dry grass
echoing
かれ草かれ草と鳴る
wheat sprouts
clouds casting shadows
麦の芽雲が影おとし行く
the thicket and the red leaves drizzling your house too
薮も紅葉もしぐれてゐる君の家も
sweeping up dead leaves in the margins of life
人生の余白の落葉掃きためる
when I dig up the autumn sunlight
your lilies–
your bulbs–
秋陽を掘ればあなたのゆりや球根や
peach blossoms
vividly waking
from their deep slumber
桃の花あさやかに魔睡からさめている
pilgrimage
always two or three sparrows
picking up what I spill
遍路こぼすもの拾ふうちの雀のいつも二三ば
I’ll return with the bones
leaving home when the peach trees are in bloom
骨で戻ろう桃の咲くころの家を離れる
self stripped away
a naked body lying still
on the operating table
己を脱ぎすてた裸身を手術台にじっとおく
waking up from the anesthesia peach blossoms
麻酔から醒めてももの花
there’s no one to sweep the pine needles
松の落葉はく人がない
that star cooling this starry night
あの星この星の夜をすずんでいる
your beloved peach blossoms
here in my sake, too!
君の好きな桃の花ここにお酒もよ
plum blossoms
limitless in every direction
the light of the moon
梅花無尽蔵十方月の光りなり
thinking I have lived a little too long
thinking of the goodness of my cane
少し生きすぎたと思ひ杖のよろしきを思ひ
Gengenshi Sugimoto (1891-1964) was the head priest of Saikoji (Saiko Temple) on Shodoshima (Shodo Island) — the same temple where Hosai Ozaki (1885-1926) settled in the final year of his life (in the small hermitage Minango-an) –, which is also the 58th temple in the famous 88-temple Shikoku Pilgrimage. He met Seisensui Ogiwara and his Soun colleague Ichiji Inoue when they were making a pilgrimage to the temple, and, interested in their freeform haiku, Sugimoto became a pupil of Ogiwara, who published many of his poems in Soun. Sugimoto and Inoue are both known for supporting Ozaki during his stay at Saikoji. In an essay, Ozaki wrote of Sugimoto: “He’s as gentle and kind as they come.” There is a Sugimoto haiku stone (“kuhi”: a stone with a haiku carved into it) in front of the Hosai Ozaki Memorial Museum in Tonosho, Shodoshima.
Sources:
Entry No. 1 