Bashō wrote a very spring-like verse almost too pretty for hokku:
From the four directions,
Cherry blossoms come blowing in;
Lake Nio.
We could be a bit less literal and make it:
From all directions,
Cherry blossoms come blowing;
Lake Nio.
Most of us have not the slightest idea what Lake Nio, also called Lake Biwa, looked or looks like. So we naturally do what we do with all hokku — we automatically come up with an internal image of a lake, with cherry blossoms blowing into it from all directions. For each of us the image will be slightly different, depending on our past experience of lakes. And that is the way with all hokku. Each reader has a different experience depending on his or her internal stock of images.
If we were to examine this verse structurally, we could say that the setting is Lake Nio; the subject is cherry blossoms, and the action is “come blowing from all directions.”
We could even present the verse that straightforward way, putting the setting last:
Cherry blossoms
Come blowing from all directions;
Lake Nio.
David
