Lafcadio Hearn wrote in his 1901 book A Japanese Miscellany that Japanese poets had created dragonfly haiku "almost as numerous as are the dragonflies themselves in the early autumn."[4] The poets Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) and Hori Bakusui (1718-1783) wrote the following haiku relating the autumn season to the dragonfly:
Crimson pepper pod
add two pairs of wings, and look
darting dragonfly.
—Basho
Dyed he is with the
Colour of autumnal days,
O red dragonfly.
--Bakusui
The distant mountains
Are reflected in the eye
Of the dragonfly
--Kobayashi Issa 1763-1828 (6)
There are countless Haiku, Tanka, and songs on Dragonflies dating back to at least the 1100s. However most beyond Hearn's book have yet to be translated.
Crimson pepper pod
add two pairs of wings, and look
darting dragonfly.
—Basho
Dyed he is with the
Colour of autumnal days,
O red dragonfly.
--Bakusui
The distant mountains
Are reflected in the eye
Of the dragonfly
--Kobayashi Issa 1763-1828 (6)
There are countless Haiku, Tanka, and songs on Dragonflies dating back to at least the 1100s. However most beyond Hearn's book have yet to be translated.