Basho Revisited, washing my feet

The following haiku was published by Daichu in a collection of Basho's handwritten poems, but actually this verse is 'unconfirmed' at being Basho's. Let us take a closer look at the verse.

ashi arote   tsui ake yasuki   maro ne kana


washing my feet
I fall asleep for the short night
with my clothes on

When I read this the first time I thought 'this is a nice haiku by Basho', but when I read further I was struck by lightning as I read the comment of Jane Reichhold that this was an 'unconfirmed' haiku by Basho. I was in shock. This couldn't be. I read the haiku again and again and it stays a haiku by Basho, but why than 'unconfirmed'?
Let us take a closer look. Why do I think this is a haiku by Basho? I don't pretend that I am a Basho connoisseur, but (as other haiku poets say) I write my own haiku in the same tone and sense as Basho. So I think I can say that I know how Basho wrote. Am I immodest ... that's up to you my dear visitors.

Credits: Stonehenge Summer solstice

This haiku has Zen in it, it has humour and it has a season word 'the short night'.
Basho was very tired while he crafted this one, he even don't had the strenght to wash his feet and put off his clothes. While washing his feet he falls asleep and misses the shortest night of the year, the summer solstice. In that part is the Zen. The shortest night missing because you're to tired, it feels like emptiness and also brings enlightenment.
Time is such a rare thing, time flies. Time doesn't excist is what this haiku says. It's a wonderful haiku. Although mentioned an 'unconfirmed' one by Basho. I think it's 'now confirmed' that this is a haiku by Basho. Daichu was right when he enclosed this haiku in the collection of Basho's handwritten haiku.

And now ... I have to write a haiku by myself in Basho's Spirit.

at dawn
I wash my feet with dew
the longest day

Well ... it's not completely in the Spirit of Basho, but it's for sure in the Spirit of Chèvrefeuille ... and that is CONFIRMED :)


Sincerely

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,