Basho Revisited, hidden blossoms

Also published for: Haiku My Heart

As you could have read already Basho was a traveling haiku poet. He made several journeys during his lifetime. Especially in the last ten years of his life.
The following haiku he wrote in summer 1693 they have both the same preface. It could be of course that Basho wrote the first one and re-wrote it later to the second one, but that isn't for sure.

kobi bito no   kokoro ni mo niyo   shii no hana


the traveling heart
should be like
hidden blossoms


shii no hana no   kokoro ni mo niyo   kiso no tabi


hidden flowers
the heart resembles
a trip to Kiso

The preface of these two was:
'As Kyoriku leaves for Hikone by the Kiso Route".
The name of the tree (Shii) is the castanopsis cupsidata which bears inconspicuous flowers. Well ... let me go with the flow and look a bit closer to these haiku. Both are about traveling, both speak about 'hidden flowers'. The line 'hidden flowers' is about the inconspicuous flowers of the Shii, but can easily be seen as a line that points to hidden meanings, or secrets. It even can mean that 'hidden flowers' points to Kyoriku as a friend or his boyfriend. Both haiku can secretly point to his love for man. Basho feels sad as Kyoriku leaves him behind to travel alone to Kiso. But that's ... just a thought, another interpretation of the haiku.

Can I write a new haiku inspired on the haiku by Basho? We will see ....

in a tiny corner
of the mansion's backyard
blooming ice flowers

Credits: Ice flowers

In the same sense and tone maybe another haiku which I wrote several years ago.

a lonely flower
my companion
for one night

'till next time

Basho Revisited, to the last flowers

The following haiku Basho wrote in Winter 1691. He was in the 'winter of his life' and felt his life ends coming. Three years later he died and left the world his legacy almost thousand haiku.

kogarashi no   nioi ya tsuke shi   kaeri bana

withering wind
the fragrance attached
to the last flowers

What does this haiku with me? It's one of his better ones. The beauty lays in the second and third line. It's there where he paints the moment were haiku is well known for. Just that 'one eye-blink'.

The fragrance, the most light perfume, the memory of the perfume, the fragrance of flowers in full bloom. What a beautiful thought a touch of the most sweet flowers in the withering wind of winter.
Yes ... this is truly a haiku as it is meant to be.

wind of winter
touches the last flowers
Ah! that perfume

For sure a haiku in Chèvrefeuille's Spirit, the light touch of Basho makes it a 'masterpiece'. Awesome!

Basho Revisited, a waterfall of flowers

Also published for The Purple Treehouse

Humour ... was, and is still, part of haiku. Basho also used humour in his haiku. Humour isn't my thing to use in haiku. In some of my haiku it's possible that there is a touch of humour, but I did that unconscious and not on purpose.
Basho's next haiku has this humour very clearly. He has written this at Ryumon Falls at the southern foot of Mount Ryumondake in Yoshino, province of Nara. This is the area with Japan's most notable display of cherry trees. This verse uses a comparitive technique: Basho is comparing how a person who is drunk stands (or doesn't stand) with the shape of a waterfall and with the way branches loaded with blossoms hang down. (Source: Jane Reichhold).



sake nomi ni    katara n kakaru    taki no hana

drinking friends
to talk I'll hang over like this
a waterfall of flowers

Not a common (counted) verse in this translation by Jane Reichhold, but I think that's no problem. I myself don't count the syllables when writing my haiku.
To write a haiku by myself in the Spirit of Basho's isn't easy, but I have to try.

Well I have written a few haiku in the sense and tone of this one by Basho. I only can hope that it has also a little bit of Basho's humour in it.

on the way home
drunken sailors bend over
to vomit

it's a strange sight
like a waterfall they fall
drunken sailors

Ah! that sight
a waterfall of flowers
when vomiting

I really loved doing this part of Basho Revisited.

Sincerely,

Basho Revisited, the day of flowers

'Tomorrow I'll be a cypress tree', the old tree in the valley said. Yesterday is gone by. Tomorrow is not here yet. While alive, doing nothing but enjoying drinks and repeating the excuse "Tomorrow!" and "Tomorrow!" until in the end we are blamed by the wise.

This was the preface of the following haiku by Basho:

hi wa hana ni    kure te sabishi ya    asunaro


the day of flowers
closes with sadness
becoming tomorrow

It's Spring time and Basho feels sad because the day of flowers has gone. The night comes and soon tomorrow will be the day of flowers. In this haiku Basho tells us that every day is a day of flowers, of nature and also tomorrow is again such a day.
Live each day to the fullest don't think of tomorrow, enjoy today. Look around you, see the flowers, the trees and the birds and insects. Enjoy every day as if it was tomorrow.

The joy of living with each day I have been given is, in my opinion, the innermost truth of Life. Live life with unconditional love for all and everything around you.
Look at your world and let that world smile ... Carpe Diem!

also tomorrow
is a day of flowers -
live your life

Make it happen :)