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The diary is written in what is called haibun, or "haiku-prose," and the results are elliptical, elegant, and suggestive. Translating a work of this kind into a language such as modern English, so different from Tokugawa literary Japanese, is a complex, perhaps thankless task, but there are now a number of translations of this diary which, when read together, can give at provide at least some measure of the extraordinary beauty, wit, elegance, and profundity of the original.
When dealing with haiku, the matter of translation is a crucial one, for capturing the elusive originals in English (or even in modern colloquial Japanese) is difficult. Here, for example, are a selection of translations of the famous frog poem cited above, both serious and satirical.
From Earl Miner, a distinguished scholar of Japanese literature:
The still old pond
and as a frog leaps in it
the sound of a splash
From Allen Ginsberg, the famous "beat" poet:
The old pond
A frog jumped in
Kerplunk!
From James Kirkup, well-known American poet and translator:
Age-old pond stillness,
Jump of a frog disturbs it
With a little plop.
pond
frog
plop!
(all from Satō, One Hundred Frogs)
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