On May 20, 1689, a few weeks before the beginning of the three-month time of seclusion Buddhist monks were required to observe each summer, the Japanese poet Bashō climbed into the mountains to visit Urami Falls. Passing behind the cascade, he tarried a while in a cave, looking out at the world through the curtain of water. Feeling momentarily like an ascetic, he composed the following haiku:
For just a moment
I’m cloistered behind the falls—
the start of summer.
—Translated by David Bowles, March 2015
Japanese original
Shibaraku wa
taki ni komoru ya
ge no hajime.