KANAE
228Haiku 俳句

不二ひとつうづみ残して若葉かな

Fuji hitotsu uzumi nokoshite wakaba kana

“The young leaves have buried everything — except, alone, Mount Fuji.”

Attributed to Yosa Buson · Edo

The meaning

Spring's green tide covers the whole country; only the great mountain shows. What is truly high is recognized when everything else is submerged.

At the origin

A haiku by Buson on the new green of early summer.

The characters

  1. 不二 FujiMount Fuji
  2. ひとつ hitotsualone, one
  3. うづみ uzumiburying
  4. 残して
  5. 若葉
  6. かな

The complete word-by-word reading, in KANAE.

In practice

In the flood of things, note what, in you, always shows above.

Themes

In the collections · Haru

Similar proverbs

Related expressions

See also