Poetry Chaikhana Blog

Oct 19 2024

Shiki – A pruned branch

Published by Ivan M. Granger at 10:48 am under Poetry

A pruned branch
by Shiki (Masaoka Tsunenori)

English version by Hart Larrabee

A pruned branch
And dawn comes easily
To my little window

— from Haiku Illustrated: Classic Japanese Short Poems, Translated by Hart Larrabee

I don’t think I have featured a poem by the great modern haiku poet Shiki. I was sipping tea this morning, reading through a selection of haiku, and this haiku caused me to stop and smile.

Let’s pause and really contemplate this haiku for a moment. Because of a pruned branch, the dawn light is able to flood the poet’s window. Specific details precisely observed, yet they resonate in the awareness. We don’t need to conceptualize anything beyond that imagery for energy to brew and ferment in the mind, slowly expanding our awareness of the morning.

Perhaps the window is the poet’s awareness, our awareness, our view out onto the world. Working from there, we can then say that the dawn light in our ability to perceive clearly, that moment of satori or true insight, the dawning of enlightenment. The branch then, can be said to be all the things that normally block the view from window, impeding a clear view. The act of pruning that branch, then, might be said to be the things we do to clear that view, our spiritual practices and discipline, or perhaps pruning our lives down to an elegant simplicity.

Spiritual practice and simplicity prepare the way so enlightenment can reach the window of our perception.

Or perhaps we simply enjoy a moment enjoying the play of light at the window as we sip from a cup of tea.

Have a beautiful day!

Recommended Books: Shiki (Masaoka Tsunenori)