A lost haiku from the Heian period about the death of a child


I remember reading a haiku which I thought was by Sei Shonagon (I think I read
it in Will and Ariel Durant's "Our Oriental Heritage" volume, in Greek, a long
time ago. It was about losing a child, and it went something like

> How far the young hunter had to go today to gather his butterflies

but I cannot find it by reasonable searching. Does it ring a bell? Was it
Shonagon? Was it maybe Izumi Shikibu? (I do not think it was Murasaki
Shikibu.)

I'd be most obliged, this is for an acquaintance that has lost an 8-yr old
child (not that any haiku would make any difference to somehting like that).




I finally found it thanks to @broccoli forest's
[link](https://archive.org/stream/storyofcivilizat035369mbp/storyofcivilizat035369mbp_djvu.txt)
in the comments.

The book says:

> And when the Lady Kaga no Chiyo lost her husband she wrote, merely:
>
> All things that seem Are but
>
> One dreamer's dream
>
> I sleep 1 wake
>
> How wide
>
> The bed with none beside."
>
> **Then, having lost also her child, she added two lines:**
>
> **Today, how far may he have wandered, The brave hunter of dragon-flies!**

It talks about 福田千代尼 = [Fukuda Chiyo-
ni](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukuda_Chiyo-ni) (or [加賀千代女]{かがのちよじょ} = Lady
Kaga no Chiyo). She was an Edo era poet who lived 1703 to 1775.

She is said to have married at 18 but quickly lost her husband to disease, as
well as having a child which she quickly lost too. However none of this is
known for certain. [(source)](http://jphaiku.jp/haizinn/tiyojo.html)

The original poem in Japanese goes:

> とんぼつり今日はどこまで行ったやら  
>  Tombo tsuri kyou wa doko made itta yara  
>  Dragonfly hunting. I wonder how far [he] went today (my attempt at a more
> literal translation)

According to [this source](http://jphaiku.jp/haizinn/tiyojo.html), this haiku
is attributed to Kaga no Chiyo but it is not certain if she wrote it or even
if she was married. It is said to be a haiku about the loss of a child, as you
said.

[jphaiku.jp](http://jphaiku.jp/how/omoi.html) discusses this haiku as an
example of good haiku writing in conveying emotion through objects or the
scenery rather than stating them directly. The site says:

> いなくなってしまった息子は、きっとどこか遠くまでとんぼつりに出かけてしまったのだろう、早く帰ってこないかなぁ、という子供を偲ぶ句です。  
>  あるいは、息子は天国でもとんぼつりをして楽しく暮らしているのだろうか、という解釈もできます。
>
>
> 作者の感情を断定的に書かないで、とんぼつりに託したことで、読み手は千代女の気持ちを想像して、より深く、その悲しみや寂しさ、親心などを理解し、共感することができます。  
>  
>  This is a poem honoring the memory of her dead son which can be understood
> as saying that, "he must have gone far from home hunting dragonflies, I hope
> he comes back soon..."  
>  Another possible interpretation is that the son is enjoying a fun life
> hunting dragonflies in Heaven too.
>
> Because Chiyo conveys her emotions through the medium of "dragonfly hunting"
> rather than simply stating them, the reader can better sympathize with her
> and more deeply understand and imagine her grief, loneliness, and parental
> love for her child. (my translation)

