INVITATION TO THE WORKS OF KYOSHI

　　Seasonal word: Spring water.
　　This haiku was written in 1913, when Kyoshi was 39 years old.

While taking a walk one day in early spring, Kyoshi came upon a ditch filled with water. As he looked idely down at it, Kyoshi observed that though the sun sparkled in the water and warmed his back, the east wind still brought a chill to his cheek.

Thinking that spring could surely be felt in the microcosm down in the ditch, Kyoshi threw a pebble into the water. Through soft mud floating up like smoke, he saw winter-dark algae at the bottom. Then he noticed a green leaf on the surface of water.

Surely this was a harbinger of spring! Kyoshi realized that the leaf was connected to a stem, and that this stem rose from a submerged root. Observing more closely he was surprised to find many more stems emerging radiately from the root and each of them had a leaf on the surface.

Perceiving that the entire universe could be seen in this humble plant, he felt it was a true gift of nature and understood how close observation and profound contemplation were linked each other.