Nagaki hi ya

永き日や/欠伸うつして/別れ行く
(夏目漱石 1867-1916)

nagaki hi ya / akubi utsushite /wakare yuku
(Natsume Soseki 1867-1916)

a long day,
we swap yawns
and part


I've finally got a book out from the university library about grammar in the old days in Japan. As such I now know that 'nagaki' used to be the standard form for 'nagai', at least when it came just before the noun. If it came at the end of the sentence, it would be 'nagashi'. I don't want to discuss grammar in too much detail, and throw around grammatical terms I've only just learnt, so I won't. Suffice it only to say that Japanese grammar used to be at least a little more complicated than the grammar you need to get by today.

Apparently this poem was written when Soseki, then 29, parted with the poet, Kyoshi Takahama at Matsuyama. I can't find any further information about this particular haiku, but Soseki was teaching English at Matsuyama, where Takahama also lived, until in 1896 (when he was 29) he moved to Kumamoto. So we could speculate that the poem was written about this particular parting. Unfortunately, it seems to me like a haiku where knowing something about the background would enhance it. Taken literally, I find it a little dull.