Writing on Basho's Pond

<p> Matsuo Bash&omacr; (1644&ndash;94) is Japan&rsquo;s most well-known haiku poet; and Bash&omacr;&rsquo;s poem about the old pond, the jumping frog, and the sound of water is Bash&omacr;&rsquo;s best-known haiku. Indeed, this haiku, like Bash&omacr; himself, is known well beyond Japan, long ago attaining through its many translations a degree of international recognition. However, in Japan, awareness of Bash&omacr;, and of his frog haiku, goes well beyond simple recognition, having long ago absorbed itself into a broader and more complex form of remembrance and, with that absorption, a nearly reflexive response by many of those hearing it. Often, the mere mention of this haiku is all that is needed for it to be&mdash;madeleine-like&mdash;instantly evoked, for its lines to be conjured in the imagination of the Japanese listener. Translation of Bash&omacr;&rsquo;s frog haiku into English has itself taken many forms, with hundreds of versions existing. In this essay, I discuss these translations and what their sheer abundance reveals about the pursuit of that haiku. What, one wonders, is being translated here? I will also contrast this translator&rsquo;s pursuit of the haiku with the often more immediate recognition of it by many Japanese, that involuntary memory manifested by its indigenous familiarity. Finally, I present my own recent installation-translation of this haiku, in Tokyo, a &ldquo;writing on water/writing on air.&rdquo;</p>