1 haiku out of 10000
1820
.遠山が目玉にうつるとんぼ哉
tôyama ga medama ni utsuru tombo kana
the distant mountain
reflected in his eyes...
dragonfly
Issa sees a vast mountain (or mountains) miniaturized in the tiny bubble-eyes of the dragonfly. Just as his English contemporary, William Blake, glimpsed a universe in a grain of sand, Issa perceives the great in the small: a mountain in the twin mirrors of an insect's mirror eyes. The power of this image cannot be fully explained; with it, the poet coaxes the reader into a deep contemplation of the nature, and interconnectedness, of all things.
Kai Falkman cites this poem to exemplify shift in perspective in haiku; see Understanding Haiku: A Pyramid of Meaning (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2002) 46.
