A Net of Fireflies: Japanese Haiku and Haiku Paintings

by Harold Stewart

A Net of Fireflies is a superb collection of classic haiku composed by the leading writers of this delicate but intricate art form.

With over three Japanese hundred haiku poems written over five centuries, the book is a thorough introduction to the unique world of Japanese haiku. Thirty-three full color haiku paintings complement the poems, providing a new and delightful dimension for understanding and appreciating this often illusive but always evocative poetic form.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Japan

180 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1960

Reviews

[Flo · Rating 2 out of 5]

ROMANCE
Evening in spring: the fox’s phantom played
A young and gallant prince in masquerade.
– Buson

A net of (firef)lies

The title of this book also says "haiku", I'm afraid,
but I got these rhyming couplets/kiddy songs instead.

Not even an introduction that serves as a warning
so purists like me won't be cursing and mourning.

And why would you add such lovely paintings without
more details like year or place to talk about?

Yes, Ishikawa Kinichiro painted “River Breeze”.
I'm not expecting his biography or level of expertise;
just few references to know where I'm standing, please!

No use to cry over the time I’ve spent.
Without further ado, the source of my discontent:

AND SO
And so the spring buds burst, and so I gaze,
And so the blossoms fall, and so my days . . .
– Onitsura

Were the titles absolutely necessary?
The lack of extra information will be legendary.


With this carnage, we’ll persist.
Pray for Bashō, I insist.

SENSITIVE
The butterfly, lifted on the spring wind’s billow,
Alights elsewhere upon the swaying willow.
– Bashō

*

KANNON'S ANSWER
Oh, do not kill that fly! It would entreat:
See how it wrings its little hands and feet!
– Issa

I’d like to compare it with another translation;
closer to haiku, according to civilization.

Don’t swat the fly
who begs your pardon
wringing his hands and legs
(translated by Nanao Sakaki)

**

Don’t kill that fly!
Look–it’s wringing its hand,
wringing its feet.
(translated by Robert Hass)

You could say: “the meaning is similar, for sure”.
Only one would be part of a cheap brochure.

CLINGING
This world is but a single dewdrop, set
Trembling upon a stem; and yet . . . and yet
– Issa

Here, to reassure...
Another version, a real cure:

This dewdrop world—
Is a dewdrop world
And yet, and yet...
(translated by Lewis Mackenzie)


Finally, see how they've wrecked it...

ON IZUMO CLIFF
Arching above the wild and gloomy sea,
Far out to Sado Isle—the Galaxy!
– Bashō

...one that is a favorite:

A wild sea—
and flowing out toward Sado Island,
the Milky Way.
(translated by Robert Hass)

**

stormy sea:
stretching over Sado,
Heaven’s River
(translated by David Landis Barnhill)

**

High over wild seas
surround Sado Island—
the River of Heaven
(translated by Sam Hamill)


There’s also an essay—forgotten creed,
though I was already too vexed to read.
This review warns you—today’s good deed.

There are useful notes by the end of the book
if you’re still alive to give them a look.

Haiku's been slaughtered, that left my sight blurry,
I prefer the absurd butchery of Edward Gorey.



Oct. 6, 20
* Later on my blog.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Through this shower in spring, at dusk dispersing,
A raincoat and umbrella stroll, conversing...
Buson

A nice collection of haiku. The rhyming may or may not add to the poems, I leave that up to you to decide.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like these "verse translations", but purists be warned: Stewart has translated each haiku into a rhyming couplet having the same "punch" as (I assume) the original. I have not yet read the essay that comprises the latter half of the book; perhaps the author explains his choices therein. Nonetheless, I think the haiku in this book do have the same mood as other haiku translations I have read, and the rhymes may somewhat make up for the lack of some of the features of Japanese haiku which are non-translatable. A sample here:

A chestnut dropped in. A goldfish rose to drink.
Their widening rings of water interlink.--Kijiro

In addition to the poetry, the book itself (at least the hardcover that I have) is a thing of beauty. Printed on thick, creamy paper with uncut page edges, it has beautiful haiku color brush-paintings every few pages, and is bound in two colors of fabric--very nice to hold.

[Samantha Gilmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re looking for literal translation of Japanese haiku, this is not the book for you.

The author has taken traditional Japanese haiku and translated them into rhyming couplet form. The essence of the haiku (simple yet vivid nature sketches) are still there, but in a different form and conveyed a different way.

Personally, I really enjoy it. I’m not reading this book to study haiku form (although if you are interested the last third of the book is a heavily detailed essay on history, form, translation, and why the author wrote them the way he did). I’m reading this book to enjoy poetry and art, and from my point of view it contains both.

I recommend giving a few of the poems a try. If it’s not your thing then move on to the next book.

[SamNoelPearce Samadhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book I come back to often enough to be classed as an old friend...

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was wonderful reading Japanese haiku in English. Hopefully one day I'll be able to read them in their native 日本語.

[A.m. Kirkby · Rating 1 out of 5]

The essay on haiku is useful. But these translations don't do the form justice. Haiku are about incompleteness, bareness, surprises, and the 'turn' that comes on the cutting word. The translations are all in rhyming couplets, which create a feeling of completion and tidiness. The longer lines mean that Stewart has to add extra descriptions and more words to make up space, and that, on occasion, distorts the meaning (Issa's 'puny frog' haiku has him rushing to the help of a frog that's being deprived of its chance to mate by a bigger one, whereas the translation, adding the words 'though death is near' seems to make the poem a tragic vision rather than a comic one).

Get Faubion Bowers' 'Classic tradition of Haiku' instead. It has haiku from various translators in different traditions, including several haiku in two or three translations to show different ways of approaching the task.

[Sean Whitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not because the Haiku is bad...I just don't understand the genre as much as I would have liked. This book needs some ancillary reading to build a baseline knowledge of the underlying Haiku. Otherwise, one of the best books in my collection.