John Cage tells about a haiku by Bashō, consisting of japanese for: ‘pine – mushroom – ignorance – leaf of tree’ which is translated by R.H. Blyth as: ‘The leaf of some unknown tree sticking on the mushroom’. Japanese composer friend of Cage does not agree and translates: ‘Mushroom does not know that leaf is sticking on it’. Three years later John Cage translates: ‘That that’s unknown brings mushroom and leaf together’. His final version he likes the most:

What leaf? What mushroom?

Uit: John Cage: “Mushroom Haiku” and “At the Middle”
Afbeelding: Wild Mushrooms,Shibata Zeshin, 1880.