Basho Revisited, firefly fire

Matsuo Basho

Following Basho's trail along his Narrow Road to the Deep North I came towards a haiku by him which he wouldn't publish in his haibun 'Oku no Hosomichi' (The Narrow Road to the Deep North), but Sora, a haiku poet who after Basho's death in 1694 published the 'Narrow Road' included this haiku. Sora was also the travel companion of Basho on his Narrow Road, but Sora had to go home somewhere on this journey because he became ill.

This haiku isn't very well known. I haven't read read it in the many published books and anthologies about Basho. I ran into this haiku in Jane Reichhold's 'Old Pond: Basho's (almost) thousand haiku' and loved it very well. Why Basho wouldn't publish this one? I don't know, but I am glad that Sora did include it.

hotaru bi no   hira wa kie tsutsu   hashira kana

firefly fire

disappears at daylight

behind the pillar

Credits: firefly

In my opinion this is a haiku in the same strong tone and sense as his well known 'Old Pond' and it has to become a well known haiku. I hope with this episode of Basho Revisited that this haiku becomes as famous as 'Old Pond'.

at sun down

the fragile light

of a firefly

Not entirely the same tone and sense as the one by Basho, but it looks more like a haiku in the Spirit of Chevrefeuille :)

Basho Revisited, the sound of water

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

You remember for sure Basho's haiku 'Old Pond':

an old pond
a frog jumps in
the sound of water

The following haiku by Basho has the same third sentence but fails to achieve the importance that it does have in the above verse.
Basho wrote the following haiku in the Summer of 1688.

taneshisa ya   aota ni suzuma   mizu no ato


delightfulness
cooling one self in a rice paddy
the sound of water

As we look closer at both verses we can see the picture, but in 'Old Pond' the main figure is the frog and in 'delightfulness' it's a human. Basho uses the same third sentence but, there is a difference in 'the sound of water'. In 'Old Pond' the sound of water is very short. It's just the frog who breaks the water. That sound is the essence of haiku, short as an eye-blinck, just a 'aha-erlebnis'.
In 'delightfulness' the sound of water is made by a human who is cooling his feet in the water of the rice paddy. That 'sound of water' is a longer sound, the sound of splashing. In 'delightfulness' the cool water of the rice paddy is the 'aha-erlebnis'. How refreshing the cool water of the rice paddy on a hot summer day.

In my opinion 'the sound of water' in 'Old Pond' is stronger and important for the picture. In 'delightfulness' 'the sound of water' is less important for the picture. It's the coolness of the water of the rice paddy that's important.
Well it's just a thought, a reverie ....

with my bare feet
in the cool grass of dawn
Ah! what a feeling

Not bad I think. A well balanced haiku written in a sleepless night. Is this in the Spirit of Basho? Yes, I think so ...

Sincerely,