上行くと下来る雲や秋の空
ue yuku to shita kuru kumo ya aki no sora1
clouds floating above
and floating below
autumn’s sky
—Boncho2
The clear autumn sky in Japan is a wonder to behold, but it can also be somewhat confusing at times, as Boncho describes in this haiku, with different layers of clouds going in different speeds, even seemingly going in different directions, as the seasonal winds blow to and fro. The Japanese actually tells us “Clouds going above / clouds coming below”. This is typhoon season in Japan; these complex winds always bring at least a handful of the powerful storms to the islands.
There are two proverbs in Japanese mentioning this changeable autumn sky and comparing it with human folly. Essentially they are the same, one for each gender. They say “A man’s heart is like the autumn sky” and “A woman’s heart is like the autumn sky”.3 I suppose pick the one needed for any given situation.
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The first is 男心と秋の空 (otokogokoro to aki no sora), and the second is 女心と秋の空 (onnagokoro to aki no sora). 心 could mean either heart or mind depending on context, so we could also translate these as “A woman’s/man’s mind is like the autumn sky.” ↩