Betsy Tohinaka

2/18/99

Japanese 28

When someone discusses Japanese literature, the poetic form Haiku is bound to come up. In modern times, the Haiku’s form is as well known as the sonnet. This famous form of poetry was not always as well known or popular in Japan, though, and thus virtually unknown throughout the rest of the world. The Haiku’s fame is almost solely due to the work of one man, Matsuo Basho. In this essay I will explore Basho’s life, his work, as well as the essential form of the Haiku.

It is believed that he was born about thirty mile southeast of Kyoto sometime in 1644. Little is known about his parents, only that his father was probably a low-ranking samurai, also working the fields as a farmer. Basho worked as something a long the lines of a page for a relative of the feudal lord that ruled the province. As they grew older, Basho and his master, Yoshitada (two years older than Basho), grew quite close, both sharing a love for haikai (a form of poetry). Basho’s first Haiku (which we still have today) was written in 1664. At this point in his life, Basho was in his twenties, working as a low-ranking Samurai (under the name Munefusa) and writing in his spare time. In 1666 Yoshitada died, and Basho left and began "a wandering life." (Ueda, 21) There are various hypotheses as to why Basho left home: he was grief-stricken and contemplating suicide, he was fleeing because of issues with lovers. It is thought that over the next few years Basho went to Kyoto, studying calligraphy, philosophy and poetry under the experts of their . He published various anthologies between 1667-1671, and in 1672 wrote a compilation of haikai called The Seashell Game (Kai Oi). Basho then moved to Edo, continuing to write poetry in his new home. His love for poetry continued to grow. He judged many Haiku contests in 1675, his fame and talent growing. Basho lived in a hut with a banana plant outside, which was a gift to him when he moved into his home in Edo. The word Basho acutally means "banana plant," which isn’t his last name in reality, but a nickname that stuck because of his love for the banana plant. (click here)

The more famous and wealthy Basho became, the more dissatisfied he was. He was lonely and depressed, and in 1682 he was homeless when his hut was destroyed in a fire, and that his mother had died. He had no where to go. It was thus that in 1684 began his first poetic journey, calling it "" The journey of a weather-beaten skeleton"" (Ueda, 26) As a result of his journey he produced a compilation of Haiku and Renku. For the next few years, he returned to the Basho hut, using the beauty of nature as inspiration for his poetry. Basho left again (accompanied by one of his students), traveling along to coast, and various other places. This journey was also a literary success. He then almost immediately left for another, 1,500 mile journey in 1689. It was on this journey that he wrote one of his best haiku: "The rough sea-/ Extending toward Sado Isle,/ The Milky Way." (Ueda, 30). This journey was the high point in Basho’s literary carrer. By this time, he had puplished many compilations and anthologies, had many desciples, and was very well known thorughout Japan. (click here)

Basho returned to Edo in 1691. However, he could not settle down. He was dissastisfied with his work, and became more and more nihilistic. He was a poet to overcome his ties with the world, but his fame tied him more and more. He tried renouncing poetry, to no avail, so he decided to stop seeing people all together. However, he wanted to live without "locking his gate" so to speak, so he adopted the principle of "sabi," which urges people to "detach himself to wordly involvements." (Ueda, 34) and began to ask his disciples to do the same. This sabi principle also was a source of inspiration for his poetry. In 1694 Basho embarked on another journey, however, his health was failing (at this time, he was 50 years old) He wrote a Haiku about his physical state in Osaka: "This autumn/ Why am I aging so?/ Flying towards the clouds, a bird." (Ueda, 34) Soon after this poem Basho became bed ridden, and he never recovered from his sickness. His last haiku was "On a journey, ailing-/My dreams roam about/ Over a withered moor." (Ueda, 35). (click here)

Before we can truly analyze Basho’s Haiku style, we must first come to understand the essential nature of the haiku. The haiku is defined as a "seventeen syllable poetic form" (Varley, 316). The first line of a haiku has five syllables, the next line has seven, and the last line has five syllables. The haiku first became popular in the 1600s (during his life, and partly because of Basho), it’s three line form is simply the first part of waka, another Japanese form of poetry, its rhyme scheme beind 5-7-5-7-7. Since the haiku is so short, it must capture a mood, create an effect, or "bring about a sudden and sharp insight into the truth of human existance" (Varley, 172). The fleeting beauty and fragility of nature is also a favorite theme: Autumn and Spring being the most popular seasons, the former because it’s a time where the fleeting beauty of nature dies, and the latter because it is the season of birth and renewal. (click here)

Basho himself wrote about 1,000 haiku in total. He used many different techniques and wrote about many different subjects. He used his journeys and Zen Buddhism as the source of inspiration for many of his poems, the theme of poetry also being frequently employed. "An ancient pond/ A frog jumps in/ The sound of nature" (Varley, 172). This is possibly his most famous haiku uses nature as a backdrop for an exploration of the eternal and fleeting nature of things: a concept that is key to Zen Buddhism. As Basho matured as a poet, he broadened the subjects of his poetry. He would sometimes allude to classical Asian literature, or use nature as the backdrop for his exploration of philosophy, Basho even wrote comical and lighthearted haiku at times. (click here for examples)

Basho was a master of the haiku, not only for the sheer magnitude of haiku that he produced, but also for the skill in which he captured a scene, philosophy or mood. The "Basho Style," in which the reader "experience[s] a welling-up of inexplicable emotion from the depths of our being." (Konishi,124) was something that Basho’s followers (from centuries ago until the present day) constantly sought to master. Basho had an understanding of how to use short length of the haiku to his advantage, capturing his subject in a way that no one can rival. The worldwide knowledge of the existance of the haiku is due to Matsuo Basho, a man who dedicated his life to his art: traveling throughout the countryside, adopting new philosophies, and even shutting out the outside world to write and master poetry.(click here)