What on earth is this all about, the butterfly seems to think, as it goes berserk over the flower offerings

何事ぞ手向し花に狂ふ蝶

nanigoto zo tamukeshi hana ni kurū chō

(Natsume Sōseki 夏目漱石)

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1.

The verb tamuku means to make an offering to gods, spirits of the deceased, etc. Here it refers to a voluminous flower offering (tamukeshi hana is literally “the flowers [I] have offered”), probably for a person who has just passed away.

2.

The original Japanese does not contain a direct reference to thinking, and the fact that “the butterfly seems to think” is understood from the phrase nanigoto zo, which literally means “what on earth is the matter”. The butterfly goes madly from flower to flower, without understand their meaning or purpose.

A sick man, venturing away from the heater to see the snow

病む人の巨燵離れて雪見かな

yamu hito no kotatsu hanarete yukimi kana

(Natsume Sōseki 夏目漱石)

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1.

A kotatsu is a blanket-covered table with a heater under it. To move away from the heater means, in this case, to pull one’s body from under the blanket and brave the coldness of the room—something that even a healthy person would be reluctant to do in a typical traditional house in Japan, with its minimal insulation.

2.

Yukimi, literally “snow viewing”, refers to looking at a snowy scene in the context of admiring its beauty. In haiku it functions as a season word associated with winter.

Enjoying the coolness in the bamboo grove’s shade as mosquitoes bite me hard

藪陰に涼んで蚊にぞ喰はれける

yabukage ni suzunde ka ni zo kuwarekeru

(Natsume Sōseki 夏目漱石)