The only substantial
collection in English
of Basho's renku, tanka,
letters and spoken word
along with his haiku, travel
journals, and essays.
The only poet in old-time
literature who paid attention with praise
to ordinary women, children, and teenagers
in hundreds of poems
Hundreds upon hundreds of Basho works
(mostly renku)about women, children,
teenagers, friendship, compassion, love.
These are resources we can use to better
understand ourselves and humanity.
Interesting and heartfelt
(not scholarly and boring)
for anyone concerned with
humanity.
“An astonishing range of
social subject matter and
compassionate intuition”
"The primordial power
of the feminine emanating
from Basho's poetry"
Hopeful, life-affirming
messages from one of
the greatest minds ever.
Through his letters,
we travel through his mind
and discover Basho's
gentleness and humanity.
I plead for your help in
finding a person or group
to take over my 3000 pages of Basho material,
to edit and improve the material, to receive 100%
of royalties, to spread Basho’s wisdom worldwide
and preserve for future generations.
Quotations from Basho Prose
The days and months are
guests passing through eternity.
The years that go by
also are travelers.
The mountains in silence
nurture the spirit;
the water with movement
calms the emotions.
All the more joyful,
all the more caring
Seek not the traces
of the ancients;
seek rather the
places they sought.
Before leaving on his journey through Kiso mountains (now the Japan Alps), Basho expresses his anxiety about traveling the rough and backward road
Trembling and all the more moist maiden flower
ひよろひよると / なほ 露けしや / 女郎花 Hyoro hyoro to / nao tsuyukeshi ya / ominaeshi
These are tiny clumps of yellow granules on tall stalks in autumn. The Japanese call them “harlot flowers” though the English is “maiden flowers.” How fragile are these flowers moist with dew and seeming about to topple in the raw mountain wind. The translation is altogether literal, however words take on divergent meanings in our private minds.
-------------------------------------------
“The bees will let themselves be lured into the most ridiculous positions, avidly nosing their way like pigs
through the thick purple brush of a thistle, rolling around helplessly in a single peony’s
blond Medusa thatch of stamens…
Michael Pollon,
The Botany of Desire
The following was a farewell verse to his followers in Nagoya where he has stayed as their guest
Peony petals, deep within, the bee’s reluctance to part
牡丹蕊深く這い出るはちの別れ哉 botan shibe fukaku /hai-deru hachi no /wakare kana
Basho says, “I want to stay here forever.” He is the bee, Nagoya is the peony. He communicates his message through female body imagery. In case you think I am amplifying the sexuality,
consider Haruo Shirane’s translation:
From deep within
the peony pistils – withdrawing
regretfully the bee
Can’t leave the “bee” in there forever, can we?
And then Nobuyuki Yuasu’s:
Having sucked deep
in a sweet peony,
A bee creeps
out of its hairy recesses
OMG! (Neither “sucked” nor “hairy recesses” appears in the Japanese. Basho would not be so obvious.)
In the Deep North, in a town famous for growing safflowers and producing the orange-red dye used in make-up, Basho conceived a haiku he included in his journal A Narrow Path in the Heartlands.
Eyebrow brush is the vision I see safflowers
眉掃きを / 俤 に して / 紅の 花 Mayu haki o / omokage ni shite / beni no hana
The safflower stalk grows to waist-height and puts forth its orange-yellow thistle-like flower in July. Looking at the living flowers, Basho ‘sees’ into the future this bit of safflower substance applied to a woman’s eyebrow. In older Basho anthologies another verse appears together with this one:
In the future whose skin shall they touch? these safflowers
行くすえは / 誰が肌ふれん / 紅の花 Yuku sue wa / taga hada furen / beni no hana
Safflower dye was also used to color a woman’s under-kimono; a red under robe would be worn by a girl or young woman, not for a formal occasion but for a party. So here Basho ‘sees’ into the future, the female flesh this bit of dyestuff will touch and move over. He explores her body underneath her clothing. The connection between flowers and future eyebrow makeup is interesting, but between flowers and future undergarments is far more intimate, titillating, and fun.
The Basho Haiku Shuzei says,
“This is a verse by Chiyo-jo. It is not the Old Man’s style.”
The woman haiku poet Chiyo-jo was born nine years after Basho’s death and studied with his disciple Shiko. Okina, “Old Man,” is a pseudonym Basho often used. Donagon and Ichihashi, in their English collection of Chiyo-jo’s haiku do not include IN THE FUTURE since there is no evidence that she did write it – except that
she was a woman, so would know about a woman under her kimono – though in their notes they say the verse is “believed by some to be one of Chiyo-jo’s.”
Some scholar seems to have decided that the austere serious-minded Basho (in his imagination) would never have writen so erotic a verse as IN THE FUTURE. His opinion was published without supporting
evidence, and since then all the other scholars have fallen into line with this unsubstantiated rumor, calling the verse “authorship doubtful” and placing in the back of anthologies where no one notices it.
I think the verse is Basho’s style. He often looks into the past or the future to see what is hidden by time, and he often concentrates his attention on a woman’s body: for instance, this study of the female
body in L-4 Woman with Goddess
Long slender figure of a goddess so gracefully She wrings out red dye into the white rapids.
After visiting the Ise Shrine, Basho passes through the nearby town. Because of its association with the high holy shrine of Shinto, you might expect the place to be sanctimonious, off-limits to a brothel. But actually it was the reverse: the street before the shrine is packed with entertainment services, such as a “tea-house” where a prostitute might provide sex to customers who paid. A pilgrimage to Ise was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most Japanese men who went without their wives, and there was sake to take out inhibitions.
The same day, on the way back, we stop at a tea house where there is a woman named Butterfly.
Formerly the prostitute here but then taken by the owner to be his wife, she continues working in his business, using the skills she developed to stimulate customers so they come back for more.
“A haiku on my name, will you?” She hands me a piece of white silk where I write.
The situation fraught with sensuality: mature sexually experienced woman, her name, the piece of white silk she puts into Basho’s hand, her tempting request: あが名に発句せよ、Aga na ni hokku se yo; she sounds like that airline stewardess: “Hi, I’m Cheryl, fly me!” He responds in kind:
Orchid fragrance upon wings of Butterfly sniff the incense
蘭の香や / 蝶の翼に / 薫物す Ran no ka ya / chou no tsubasa ni / takimono su
One issue in this haiku is whether we see “butterfly” as a woman or as an insect (there is a difference.) You will notice I have prejudiced you to see the woman by using a capital “B” and not proceeding with “a” or “the.” (Remember I am trying to have fun here.) Even seen as an insect, it’s pretty sensual, but as a woman it is downright erotic.
After she saw Basho’s haiku, Butterfly said
“I used to the be the play-woman of this house, But now I have become the owner’s wife."
If we allow the outrageous notion that she considers Basho’s haiku to be a request for sexual favors – because that’s the sort of thing men said to her when they wanted sex – then her spoken response makes
complete sense: Butterfly is politely saying “No” and helping Basho understand why.
Plum or willow? beautiful young boys or women?
梅 柳 /さぞ 若衆 かな / 女 かな Ume yanagi / sazo wakashu kana / onna kana
Plum blossoms, bright and fragrant in freezing cold of early spring, represent the spring-like innocence of unspoiled youth without any sexual ‘heat.’ Willows, their long slender branches falling all around the trunk, appear as a woman with long hair concealing yet also suggesting her sexuality. In Japan from medieval times, the practice of pederasty, shudō (衆道), "the Way of the Young," was prevalent in the religious
community and samurai society. Basho, in 1682, says that men can choose whether to fulfill their desires with the smooth gentle bodies of young boys, or with women sexually blossoming.
I plead for your help in finding a person or group to take over my 3000 pages of Basho material, to edit and improve the presentation, to receive all royalties from sales, to spread Basho’s wisdom worldwide and preserve for future generations.
The only substantial
collection in English
of Basho's renku, tanka,
letters and spoken word
along with his haiku, travel
journals, and essays.
The only poet in old-time
literature who paid attention with praise
to ordinary women, children, and teenagers
in hundreds of poems
Hundreds upon hundreds of Basho works
(mostly renku)about women, children,
teenagers, friendship, compassion, love.
These are resources we can use to better
understand ourselves and humanity.
Interesting and heartfelt
(not scholarly and boring)
for anyone concerned with
humanity.
“An astonishing range of
social subject matter and
compassionate intuition”
"The primordial power
of the feminine emanating
from Basho's poetry"
Hopeful, life-affirming
messages from one of
the greatest minds ever.
Through his letters,
we travel through his mind
and discover Basho's
gentleness and humanity.
I plead for your help in
finding a person or group
to take over my 3000 pages of Basho material,
to edit and improve the material, to receive 100%
of royalties, to spread Basho’s wisdom worldwide
and preserve for future generations.
Quotations from Basho Prose
The days and months are
guests passing through eternity.
The years that go by
also are travelers.
The mountains in silence
nurture the spirit;
the water with movement
calms the emotions.
All the more joyful,
all the more caring
Seek not the traces
of the ancients;
seek rather the
places they sought.
