231Haiku 俳句
鶏頭の十四五本もありぬべし
けいとうのじゅうしごほんもありぬべしKeitō no jūshigo hon mo arinubeshi
“Cockscombs — there must be fourteen, maybe fifteen.”
The meaning
From his sickroom, the poet estimates the garden flowers he can no longer count. The world stays worthy of attention, even glimpsed, even approximate.
At the origin
A famous and debated haiku by Shiki (1900), composed on his sickbed.
The characters
- 鶏頭 keitōcockscombs
- の noof (linking)
- 十四五 jūshigofourteen-fifteen
- 本
- も
- ありぬべし
のParticleLinks two words: possession or belonging, like “of”.
In practice
Even from afar, even roughly: keep observing your garden.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 176 明日の百より今日の五十 Better fifty today than a hundred tomorrow.
- 206 人の噂も七十五日 A rumor lives but seventy-five days.
- 232 春や昔十五万石の城下かな Spring — long ago, a proud castle town of a hundred fifty thousand koku.
- 030 実るほど頭を垂れる稲穂かな The riper the rice ear, the lower it bows its head.
- 049 十人十色 Ten people, ten colors.