Hear the leaves, after the wind has calmed.

葉を聞く

風のあとの

しんしんと

Hear the leaves, after the wind has calmed.

Image note: A fan for the image because it’s beautiful, “Open in New Tab” to appreciate the detail. Wind power / the Breeze is often symbolized by a fan in Japan. Shibata Zeshin made this art.

葉を聞く

風のあとの

しんしんと

To make it easier to understand this haiku, let’s look at the elements using the Japanese Complete bunsetsu jar system.

The first neon green jar is around “Leaf + wo” and the box excludes “Kiku” the verb “to hear, to listen” (also “to ask,” but not in this context).

The second line has “Wind’s” and “After’s” in the two jars. As in: the part that belongs to the after that belongs to the wind. Kinda wordy. But it means the Wind has the Ato (after) and this is belonging to that. Aka, this pertains to the wind’s wake or wind’s blow-through, or the reverie left behind, to speak poetically.

Finally, we have “Shin Shin toh.” Underlined. (Pardon my use of Romaji I think in the newsletter it is necessary for the widest audience!) Shin shin toh == the sound of silence. Literally an onomatopoetic expression to indicate silence. The Japanese “sound of silence” is sheeeeeeen.

If you tell a joke and nobody laughs, that is also sheeeen.

When Basho was in the forest and heard the leaves rustling after the breeze had blown through, those little kicks of leaves curling and scattering over the ground, what an awesome contrast to the silence left by the breeze: shin shin toh.

We teach Japanese sound-words in Japanese Complete, such as how しんしんと indicates the silent wake after an action; plus we have great lessons on the “toh” quotation particle, lessons that will get you far ahead of the game if you’re coming from class! Get 5 days of free premium access and see your Japanese comprehension blast off like a rocket.