peach flowers…
changing the way
to see things
Comment: a delicate (karui 軽い) and suggestive haiku with a great juxtaposition. The mutual interpenetration between man and nature (tanbi 耽美) –enabled by the charm of the peach flowers (momo no hana 桃の花) in the first ku – produces a renewed awareness in the poet’s mind and a new ‘way to see things’. The ellipsis serving as a kireji 切れ字 tells us that this change comes naturally and spontaneously, hovering ‘an unseen world in the atmosphere of the poem’ (Kamo no Chōmei, Mumyōshō 無名抄).
