Basho Revisited, in the daytime a lock

In summer 1693 Basho decided to lock himself up. He would like to think over is his life and closed the gate to his home. You can see this as a retreat. He needed to seek closure for his life as a haiku master.
The following haiku he wrote, when he took this decision.

asagao ya   hiru wa jo orosu   mon mo kaki


morning glories
in the daytime a lock
upon the gate

With this haiku came a preface "Remarks on Closing the Gate', ... if anyone comes, I have to make unnecessary talk. If I go out to visit anyone, I feel bad for disturbing his living. I should be content without any friends. I should feel wealthy in spite of my poverty. A fifty-year-old man writes this for himself as precept for his edification'.
During the months of July and August, Basho closed his gate to visitors. Because the morning glory flower closes up during the day.

Looking to this I had the idea myself to go on a retreat, but that's not my way of living. I love people around me and I, for sure, will not close my gate for visitors. I am the opposite of Basho. I embrace the people around me. I can't live without them. Of course ... I take sometimes a few days for myself, but that's more to come to myself, to get new energy and inspiration.

Chevrefeuille's haiku-blog

a few days
to become myself
and be inspired


the Honeysuckle
in front of my house
guards the gate

A few new haiku inspired on the one by Basho. Are these in his Spirit? I don't know but these haiku wearing my signature that's for sure.

Basho Revisited continues 'till episode 75, so a little more than ten episodes will follow.

See you later ... as I will revisit Basho again.

Basho Revisited, how rare!

mezurashi ya   yama wo ide ha no   natsu nasubi


how rare!
on leaving the mountain
the first eggplant

Basho was host of a renga party at the home of Nagayama Shigeyuki, a military man of the Shonai Clan. This was the greeting verse and it was used as 'hokku' for the renga.
He had visited Mount Hagura for seven days and was glad that he could finally eat fresh vegetables.
It was published in his 'Narrow Road'.

I love this haiku, it's not so well known verse, but it's a verse in which we can see Basho as a traveler. On the other hand this verse brought some nice memories.
The first sentence 'how rare!' was the same as my first thought when I wrote my first haiku. I think that's almost 25 years ago. I had scribbled some short verses at the school where I then learned to be a teacher. One my fellow students told me that the scribblings I had made looked very similar like haiku. I had never heard about haiku. I thought those short verses 'rare' 'strange', but from that time on I never let go of haiku. I can't remember that very first verse, but I can recall that in that first verse I used Honeysuckle as a seasonword. Several years later I took the French translation of Honeysuckle as my nom de plum or my pseudonym. I became Chevrefeuille, haiku poet.

Since I had nice memories when reading the above verse I have written a haiku for this episode of Basho Revisited with my pseudonym, Chevrefeuille, in it:

the sweet perfume
of the Honeysuckle
makes me drowsy

At that time I couldn't know that haiku would become my passion and still is. I also couldn't know at that time that my haiku would be Internationally known.
I am glad to write haiku and will write them for a long time.

Until next time,

Sincerely,

Also published for poets-rally-week-60

poets-rally week 60