Daily Haiku Appreciation 350: Three Spider Haiku

Born a spider, I must weave a web - Takahama Kyoshi

Within the perfection of the spider's web, the spider hungers - Takaha Shugyo

Holding its shadow, the spider remains still on the night tatami - Matsumoto Takashi

The spider is a kigo (seasonal word) for summer.

The literature of haiku does not only admire beautiful things like flowers and the moon. Rather, it has turned a surprisingly deep gaze toward creatures that are generally avoided, such as flies, mosquitoes, ants, and spiders.

Among them, the spider is a special existence.

When summer comes, they spin webs between trees and under eaves, patiently waiting for prey. Their appearance is by no means glamorous. However, haiku poets have seen the very essence of human life within these small creatures.

Takahama Kyoshi's

"Born a spider, I must weave a web"

is perhaps a representative verse.

A spider cannot live without weaving a web. Without being taught by anyone, it bears that fate from birth. People, too, live by working in their respective places, interacting with others, and weaving their own webs. One can feel a quiet empathy in Kyoshi's gaze as he superimposes the spider's form onto human life.

Takaha Shugyo's

"Within the perfection of the spider's web, the spider hungers"

is even sharper.

A spider's web is perfect. It draws a beautiful circle in the void with an efficient structure. However, the spider at its center is still hungry. No matter how magnificent a web it weaves, it cannot live if no prey is caught.

Completion and lack.

There is still a thirst inside what appears to be fulfilled. Borrowing the form of a spider, this verse seems to approach the very essence of living.

And Matsumoto Takashi's

"Holding its shadow, the spider remains still on the night tatami"

Here, the spider is depicted not so much as an insect, but as a singular existence.

A spider remains perfectly still on the tatami mat at night. A deep shadow falls beneath its feet. Through the expression 'clutching its shadow,' the spider begins to appear as if it is carrying its own loneliness and fate. Although the spider is the only one in the silent night room, a strangely human presence drifts through the air.

Fate, hunger, loneliness.

While the three haiku poets were looking at the same spider, what was reflected in its form were different human truths.

In the summer light, the spider spins its web again today and continues to wait.

From 'Combined Haiku Saijiki, Fifth Edition' (Kadokawa Shoten)