Sorry about yesterday. I was Respecting the Aged. It took all day and I got covered in applesauce.

Here's a hokku about aging ungracefully, by Kikaku:

衰老は簾もあげずに庵の雪
suirō ha/ misu mo agezu ni/ an no yuki
Decrepitude/ The screen unraised/ Snow at [Bashō's] hut

The word translated here as "decrepitude", suirō, etymologically means "declining with age" (or such a person). You have to understand that for a Japanese poet, not to raise the screen and gaze out upon the fallen snow was an act of violence against the natural way of things. This old man's failure to raise the screen was a clear sign of senility and decay.

Unrelated: I mentioned Neojaponisme before, and I'm about to mention it again because a translation of mine has just been published there. Sex, disease, high fashion... what more could you want?

Tomorrow at No-sword: Kyōgen!