167Haiku 俳句
春の海ひねもすのたりのたりかな
はるのうみひねもすのたりのたりかなHaru no umi hinemosu notari notari kana
“The spring sea — all day long it swells and gently swells.”
The meaning
A whole day watching the slow spring swell. The poem praises unproductive time — when nothing is done, and something mends.
At the origin
A haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1784), painter and poet of calm.
The characters
- 春 haruspring
- の noof (link)
- 海 umisea
- ひねもす
- のたり
- のたり
- かな
のParticleLinks two words: possession or belonging, like “of”.
In practice
Allow yourself a "notari notari" moment: slow, aimless, mending.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 078 待てば海路の日和あり Wait, and fair weather will come for the crossing.
- 213 荒海や佐渡によこたふ天河 Wild sea — stretched over Sado Island, the River of Heaven.
- 286 春はあけぼの In spring, it is the dawn.
- 211 名月や池をめぐりて夜もすがら Harvest moon — all night long I paced around the pond.
- 017 井の中の蛙大海を知らず The frog at the bottom of the well knows nothing of the great ocean.