Fufu

"My companion in the skies of death, a cuckoo."

"Arii Shokyū (1714–1781) Arii Shokyū, a village headsman's daughter, studied haikai with the samurai-turned-poet Fufū (1702–1762) in her late twenties, eloped with him, and went on to outshine her husband as a poet."

"In Kyoto Shokyu and Fufu settled down in a house on Gojo... near Takasegawa..., a man-made tributary of the Kamo river... In those days plovers frequented the river, so Shokyu and Fufu named their small abode Chidorian... Plover Hut, which Fufu proceeded to use as an additional haikai name. The house had been the residence of another Yaba disciple, Nukata Fushi... (1687-1747), and Fufu and Shokyu lived there through the generosity of Fushi' s widow and his son Bunge XT, even relying on them for rice and miso."

"Outside dust mingling in it, hidden in town yet playing in — that was my husband's life. We helped each other get up and lie down, spending countless years and months together. Even when he was away on pilgrimage for just three months, five months, I used to lament the uncertainties of our intimacy. But, now, without waiting for the standing-and-waiting moon of seedling month, he departed forever, leaving me to feel as if the grief were mine alone, in utter confusion as to what to do."