229Haiku 俳句
釣鐘にとまりて眠る胡蝶かな
つりがねにとまりてねむるこちょうかなTsurigane ni tomarite nemuru kochō kana
“On the great bell, alighted, sleeping, a butterfly.”
The meaning
The most fragile of beings sleeps on the object that may thunder at any moment. To live is always to sleep on a bell — the butterfly does it with grace.
At the origin
Buson's famous haiku on the contrast of the massive and the ephemeral.
The characters
- 釣鐘 tsuriganetemple bell
- に nion
- とまりて tomaritealighted
- 眠る
- 胡蝶
- かな
にParticleThe point of arrival: a place, a moment, a destination.
In practice
Uncertainty will not leave: learn from the butterfly to rest anyway.