Haru ya koshi
Toshi ya yukiken
Kotsugomori
Was it
spring that came,
Or was it the year that went?
The Second Last Day.
This is the earliest known poem by the
Japanese poet
Matsuo Basho, written in the winter of
1662 when Basho was 18.
The Second Last Day was the popular name for the day two days before the New Year. The first day of spring usually occured on
New Years Day, but in 1662, it occured two days early on the second last day, prompting Basho to write this
haiku.
In this poem, Basho borrows phrasing from a
tanka poem appearing in
The Tales of Ise, the
Ise Monogatari, a classic of court literature. The poem in question was sent by woman to her lover after their first meeting.
Kimi ya koshi
Ware ya yukikemu
Omooezu
Yume ka utsutsu ka
Nete ka samete ka
Was it you who came
Or was it I who went--
I do not remember.
Was that
dream or reality?
Was I
asleep or
awake?
Notice the similarities between the first two lines of both poems. This is
Basho's humor: using this structure, which would have been familiar to readers of his day, in a totally different context.