花鳥風月

花鳥風月 (Kachou Fuugetsu)

Literally: Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon

This means: Experience the beauties of nature, and in doing so learn about yourself.

 

門前の小僧習わぬ経を読む。

門前の小僧習わぬ経を読む。 (Mon zen no kozō narawanu kyō wo yomu) 

 

Literally: An apprentice near a temple will recite the scriptures untaught.

This means: The environment makes our characters.

Kobayashi Issa

"New Year's Day-- everything is in blossom! I feel about average."

"What a strange thing! To be alive beneath cherry blossoms."

"No doubt about it, the mountain cuckoo is a crybaby."

 "In this world, we walk on the roof of hell, gazing at flowers."

"Asked how old he was, the boy in the new kimono stretched out all five fingers."

"At my daughter's grave, thirty days after her death:

Windy fall-- these are the scarlet flowers she liked to pick."

- Kobayashi Issa

Matsuo Basho

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought."

 

 

"A field of cotton-- as if the moon had flowered."

 

 

"The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers."

- Matsuo Basho