Basho Revisited, a wild boar

Earlier in this series I mentioned that Basho was gay. In a lot of his haiku being gay was the theme. In his lifetime it was commonly known that in the world of arts homosexuality was normal and accepted. In this episode I will, for the last time, talk about haiku by Basho in which his being gay is the theme.



inashishi no   toko ni mo iru ya   kirigirisu

a wild boar
does it get in bed with
a cricket?


kiko no kaya   nara wa iku yo no   otoko buri

scent of chrysanthemum
Nara a long time ago
a handsome man

This one was included in a letter to his disciple Sampuu. Is he talking about Sampuu or about a man he had met in Nara?

sono nioi   momo yori shirashi   suisen kana

their color
whiter than peaches
a narcissus

This was the greeting verse given to Hakusetsu, the village headman of Shinshiro at a renga party for 12 poets. He had two sons, 14 and 11 years old, which Basho gave, in his manner, his name of when he was young (green peach) which was a sign he was highly attracted to them. The Japanese peach has a nearly pure white flesh. (Source: Jane Reichhold's Old Pond: Basho's (almost) thousand haiku).

han jitsu was   kami wo tomo ni ya   toshi wasure

for half a day
my friend turns into a god
end-of-the-year party

This was the "hokku" of a renga held at the home of Ogurusu Yugen, the Chief Priest of the temple located in the northwestern part of Kyoto.
The title of this haiku (a commonly custom) was 'A Year-End Renga Party".

yuno nagori   kayoi wa hada no   samukara n

tonight my skin
will miss the hot spring
it seems colder

This one Basho gave to Toyo, the son of the inn-keeper of Yamanaka Hot Springs, to whom he was greatly attracted, upon his farewell.

Yamanaka Hot Springs

maegami mo   mada wakakusa no   nioi kana


the boy's bangs
still has the smell
of young grass

The preface of this verse: "Hokaku asked for my writing on a folding fan".
Well ... this one encloses this episode in which I stood still by Basho's preference for man.

ultimate love
flowers and bumblebees
ripe cherries

Until next time.

This wasn't an easy one to write.

Basho Revisited, a river breeze

Also published for: The Gooseberry Garden Poetry Picnic

And for: Poets United The Poetry Pantry

In some of Basho's haiku he refers to himself as part of the scene or looks to the scene from a distance. Not very common for haiku poets. It isn't done to be part of your own haiku as haiku poet, but rules are there to be once read and than to forget them immediately.
In the following haiku he does both. He is part of the scene, but is also watching it from a distance. I think it's a great way to write haiku (unless it wasn't common).
This "not being part of your own haiku" is still in our times one of the rules. Rules? Basho once said: "Know the rules of writing haiku and forget them immediately". Well ... that's my way to write haiku. So I 'forgot' the rules of the classical haiku and embraced the rules of the Kanshicho style in which Basho wrote his haiku between 1683 and 1685. In that style the syllable count is different and less important. But as Basho said: "Forget the rules immediately". Well I can say "forgetting the rules feels good and makes my mind free". With that thought I have written all my haiku in this series of Basho Revisited.

kawa kaze ya   usu gaki ki taru   yu suzumi

a river breeze
the one wearing a light persimmon robe
enjoying the coolness

Basho wrote a preface to this haiku. (Source: Jane reichhold's Old Pond: Basho's (almost) thousand haiku).
"Enjoying the cool breeze on the bank of Shijo, an observance is practiced from the beginning to the middle of June. A special floor is set up right on the river, and people enjoy drinking and eating all night. Women tie their sashes correctly tight, and men wear their formal long coats. I see even the apprentices of a cooper and the blacksmith. They seem to have too much leisure time, singing and making noise. This is probably a scene which can only be seen in the capital (Edo, now called Tokyo).

observing the crowd
having fun on the seashore
almost naked

I love the full beaches in summer. Everyone has fun enjoying the warm summer and the coolness of the sea.
Children laugh making sandcastles, grown ups reading, playing, drinking, eating and laughing. Summer is a wonderful season and I think ... everyone enjoys it.

Until next time, sincerely,

Have a great summer! :)

Basho Revisited, missing it

Also published for: Haiku my Heart

Sometimes I read a haiku of Basho that I find beautiful in its image and simpleness. So like Basho. Just a haiku about, for example, viewing a lake
The next one is such a haiku.

yuku haru wo   omi no hito to   oshimi keru


departing spring
along with the people of Omi
missing it

Omi is situated on the southeastern shore of lake Biwa. It's known for his old castle Omi Hachiman and goes back to the 16th century. Omi is very known as a center of commerce thanks to its location near Kyoto on the east-west transportation route, and its strategic position as a center of water transport on Lake Biwa. Merchants from the area were known as Omi shonin and some of them became very famous for their success.

Credits: Lake Biwa

Lake Biwa was well known of his beauty and the wonderful nature around it.
Basho stands viewing this lake accompanied by the people of Omi at the beginning of summer or at the end of spring. He's so in awe that he misses the feeling which belongs to the departure of spring.
A haiku with the feeling of sadness, but also with happiness. In my opinion a well balanced haiku on the thin line between spring and summer.

at the seashore
wind of summer through my hair
the shortest night

Awesome! Isn't it a beauty (how immodest) this one on the thin line between spring and summer. It's a wonder. In my opinion a haiku in Basho's Spirit (and one of my masterpieces).


Sincerely,

Basho Revisited, wings of a butterfly

I love butterflies, they're so fragile and I find them very beautiful. However I didn't write a lot of haiku about butterflies. I don't know why, but it could be a lack of inspiration.
In this series I have used a haiku by Basho in the episode orchid fragrance which he wrote for a woman named Butterfly when he was asked for.

ran no ka ya   cho no tusubasa ni   takimono su


orchid fragrance
from the butterfly's wings
scenting the clothes

In that episode I didn't gave a new haiku, but an old one that I once wrote for a friend. So I will write a new haiku right now inspired by the above one.

in the Buddleia
fluttering of fragile wings
waving on the wind

Another one:

waving on the wind
butterflies resting in the sun
on the Buddleia

Credits: Butterfly on the Buddleia

Back to this episode. In this episode I will look at a few haiku by Basho  in which he used butterfly as season word. (A season word is particular for one of the seasons, butterfly is a season word for summer).

cho no ha no   ikutabi koyuru   hei no yane


wings of a butterfly
how many times do they flutter
over roof and wall


kimi ya cho   ware ya Soji ga   yume gokoro


you are butterfly?
I am Chuang-tzu's
dreaming heart

Chuang-tzu is a well known classical author of China and Basho wrote this one for one of his friends named Dosui who was an enthusiastic reader of Chuang-tzu's work. According to Jane Reichhold however this one is an unconfirmed haiku by Basho.

Another butterfly haiku:

cho mo ki te   su wo suu kiku no   namasu kana


a butterfly also comes
to sip the vinegar from mums (*)
and pickles

(*) mums is short for Chrysanthemums

Credits: Butterfly on Chrysanthemum

With this one came a preface: 'While I was staying in Awazu, a man who liked tea ceremony very much, invited me and served vinegar boiled chrysanthemum flowers picked from a nearby beach'. He wrote this one for his host, a physician.

okiyo okiyo   waga tomo ni se n   nuru ko cho


wake up wake up
I want you for a friend
sleeping butterfly

This one is discussed by several authorities and they came to the conclusion that this one must be seen in relationship to the famous story of Chuang-tzu who dreamed he was a butterfly and then wondered which was real, his dream or his life as a human. (Source: Jane Reichhold's Old Pond: Basho's (almost) thousand haiku).
Others say that this haiku refers to one of Basho's (male) lovers. The truth will stay in the middle I think.

A last example of haiku on butterflies by Basho:

cho no tobu   bakari nonaka no   hikage kana


a butterfly flies
only in the field
of sunshine

What an awesome picture. A tiny butterfly dances in the wide field in the light of the sun.

Because I love the butterfly haiku by Basho. I will give another example. This is an impromptu verse.

monozuki ya   niowa nu kasa ni   tomaru cho


how curious
on grass without fragrance
perches a butterfly

Well ... I rest my case :-) All wonderful haiku by Basho about butterflies. To write myself a new one in the Spirit of Basho will not be easy, but ... I have to do what I have to do.

the cobweb scattered
by the fluttering of wings
a blue butterfly


on the verandah
a yellowish butterfly
the light of sun down

Butterflies ... I love those tiny creatures, so fragile and yet so strong. I bow my head and thank the Gods for the butterflies.

Sincerely, 'till next time.

Also published for: Haiku my Heart









Thanks for passing by :-)

Basho Revisited, a bush warbler

Basho knew his classics and used that knowledge frequently in his haiku. The following haiku is, as Jane Reichhold says, a pseudo-science haiku.

Let us look at the haiku on the Bush warbler.

uguisu no   kasa otoshi taru   tsubaki kana


a bush warbler
has dropped his hat
a camellia

Taiwan Bush Warbler

In old (classic) poems (e.g. waka) there was a phrase about the bush warbler (looking similar to our cuckoo) stitching a hat from plum blossoms. Basho changed the hat to a camellia and had the bird dropping it - which was much more natural than stitching. If birds wore hats the camellia would be the right size and shape.

Maybe you can visualize the picture of the bush warbler wearing a camellia for a hat. It looks like a cartoon I think, but why not.

Humans wear hats so why shouldn't birds and animals don't wear them.

Maybe you lost your hat in a storm or something, so also the bush warbler could lose his hat in the storm or dropping it.

a gust of wind
a hat tolls around and around -
camellia flower

Pink Camellia

A haiku with a smile? I think so ... maybe a senryu?

Sincerely,

Basho Revisited, a grass pillow

This episode is also published for: The Gooseberry Garden Poetry Picnic

Basho wrote several haiku for his students and followers. He also wrote the next haiku for one of his followers named Rotsu (1649-1738). In the preface he wrote:
"On the departure of Rotsu for Michinoku (the Northern part of Honshu)".


kusa makara   makoto no hanami   shite mo koyo


a grass pillow
is the best to use when coming
to view cherry blossoms

When the cherry blossoms are in full bloom whole Japan is going to view the cherry blossoms. A grass pillow was the best seat for sitting under the cherry trees.
According to Jane Reichhold Rotsu was leaving to follow Basho's trip of the previous year to the Far North. Rotsu was rather notorious for his bad behavior. While in Zeze, visiting in a home, he broke a valuable tea container. Instead of owning up to the accident, he blamed another one of Basho's students. Basho got very angry with him over the incident. He only forgave Rotsu shortly before his death. But he was so concerned about the situation that he had left a note in his will of his forgiving Rotsu for this. Rotsu did attend the funeral service of Basho at Gichuyi Temple in Zeze and wrote a detailed report of the end Basho's life and death.
I couldn't see the 'clou' at first of this haiku, but I had as I had an 'aha-erlebnis' when I read the haiku again. I saw the whole picture. In my country we have a proverb 'who burns his buttocks has to sit on his blisters'.
This proverb means that 'if you e.g. break something you have to pay for it'. Rotsu wouldn't do that. So Basho wrote the haiku with that proverb in mind. Because if you burn your bud you have to sit on the blisters. A pillow will be good than to sit on and watch the cherry blossoms. I had to laugh when I came to this conclusion.

I don't  laugh now, because I have to write a new haiku in the same Spirit as the one by Basho. It will be tough one.
Well it cost me a few days to write a new haiku, but I think ... I succeeded.

sitting cushion
a friend for today's accident
viewing the full moon

Mm ... not a very well done haiku, but I will use this one in this episode. Maybe ... another one will come to my mind.
It's a Chevrefeuille haiku, but is it also one in Basho's Spirit?


This episode is also published for The Poetry Picnic of The Gooseberry Garden



Gooseberry Garden


Until next time,

Sincerely,

Basho revisited, plowing a field

Basho was also a tanka poet although there are no tanka of him published. He is known by his haiku, but uses also tanka techniques in his haiku.
In the following haiku he uses words that are usually in tanka as we will see in the preface and comment by Jane Reichhold.

hatake utsu   oto ya arashi no   sakura asa

plowing a field
the sound of a violent storm
morning blossoms

Preface: 'On March 11, at the shrine of Shirahige in Araki village'. Usually in tamka the words 'arashi' (a violent storm) and 'sakura' (cherry blossoms) are combined in the fear that the blossoms will be blown down in a storm. So the 'wit' here is to combine these words with another (much more common) meaning.

In an earlier episode I already told how anxious the Japanese were as the wind blows while all the delicate blossoms are in full bloom. The Japanese are intwined with nature and when nature is in danger, the Japanese feel hurt.
The delicate blossoms of the cherry trees and plum trees are famous for haiku, so I think that I will try a new haiku with one of these famous kigo )season word).

a late spring storm
torns apart the delicacy
of cherry blossom

For the Japanese this haiku is painful. As we know they are intwined with nature, but also a late spring storm that torns apart the delicate cherry blossoms is part of nature and ... when the blossoms have left with the wind they can grow those delicious cherries in summer. And that is also nature.

Alright I will give another few new haiku on the delicacy of the blossoms. I was inspired.

do not scatter
the lovely cherry blossoms
oh violent storm

so fragile
the white plum blossoms
in the evening sun

Ah! that fragrance
delicate cherry blossoms
in the spring rain

Basho Revisited, star-lovers

Several sources are saying that Basho was a homosexual. In his lifetime homosexuality was commonly in the artistic and literature world and, even now, homosexuality is accepted as a normal way of living in Japan.
In Basho's (almost) thousand haiku there are several haiku which are written with a touch of homosexuality. In this part of Basho Revisited I will give a few examples of haiku by Basho with a touch of homosexuality in it.

sazo na hoshi   hiji kimono ni wa   shika no kawa


surely star-lovers
using as a rug
a deer skin

This one, written in Summer 1681, shows us how Basho and his lover are laying down on a deer skin watching to the stars at the Tanabata festival. It's a haiku about love and situated at the time that, the so known 'star-lovers' Altair and Vega are meeting eachother to make love.

Another one:

yoru hisokani   mushi wa gekka no   kuri wo ugatsu


a night secret
a worm under the moon
bores in a chestnut

In this haiku, Autumn 1681, it's very clear what the deeper, hidden, secret meaning is. The white meat of a chestnut indicates, a young virgin boy. The worm ... is Basho himself making love with the young virgin boy. A night secret ... I think that's as clear as the whole haiku. Basho was in love with a young virgin boy or had a boy prostitute under his roof.

A last one:

yamaji ki te   nani yara yukashi   sumire gusa


coming down a mountain road
I've found something lovely
a wild violet

Basho talks here about a young guy which he has met after one of his travels. He compares this young guy with a wild violet.
Ofcourse these are just a few of Basho's haiku in which Basho's love for man and especially young guys is clearly used as a theme.

I will not write a new haiku myself in this part of Basho Revisited. So I will give another haiku by Basho in which his homosexuality is clear, but hidden in wonderful words.

wakaba shite   om me no shizuku   nuguwa baya


young leaves
I would like to wipe away
tears in your eyes

At second thought I will try to compose a new haiku by myself in the same tone as Basho’s.

such a sad feeling
this day I will be alone
white Chrysanthemum


Until the next part,