The old pond —
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.
Translated by Robert Hass
© Katherine Anteney
One of the reasons that I love this poem as much as I do is likely due to the responses that have been written to it over the years. I also like it because, while it seems very simple, there are many layers to it.
On one level there is the simple idea of a frog jumping into a pond. On another level there is this idea of renewal--the old pond given new life by the efforts of the frog's jump.
Haiku poems are generally written with a season in mind, and the words that describe those seasons are known as kigo. These kigo can be found in saijiki--a calendar listing of kigo words and the seasons they're associated with.
In this poem, the frog is the kigo, and it is a spring word. So, this poem is also a reflection of winter turning to spring--the season of mating frogs--the season when quiet, snow, and ice gives way to life, noise, and ...water.
So you see that while this poem may seem very simple on the surface, and be a perfectly beautiful meditation on a moment in time, it also carries deeper meanings. And one has to wonder if they might find more of them by following that frog into the old pond--a place of deeper wisdom and unfathomable depths.
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