old pond
frog jumps in
sound of water
© Basho (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)
crystal droplets
bathe a lily
© G.s.k. ‘16
Tan Renga 1 – CDHK – May 1, 2016
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Tag Archives: Matsuo Basho
Screeching Gulls – Haiku Writing Techniques – March 16, 2016
fisherman’s boat
sloshing in the evening calm
gulls screech for fish
© G.s.k. ‘16
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old pond
a frog jumps into
the sound of water
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
In this haiku Basho uses the “sense switching” technique, a technique which we have seen in our second series of haiku writing techniques last year.
In the haiku by Basho, this very famous “old pond” the frog not only jumps into the water but also into the sound of water. The mind-puzzle that this haiku creates is how to separate the frog from the water, the sound of water from the water, the frog from the sound it will make entering water, and the sound from the old pond. It cannot be done because all these factors are one, but the reader arrives at this truth through having the senses scrambled.
Here are another couple of examples of haiku in which this technique is used by Basho:
cattle shed
dark sound of mosquitoes
in summer heat
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
pine and cedar
to admire the wind
smell the sound
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
Writing with Morikawa Kyoroku – March 12, 2016
Two haiku and a haiga by haiku master Morikawa Kyorroku – disciple of Basho (the biography is in the CDHK link found below):
akegata ya shiro wo torimaku kamo no koe
it is dawn
the castle surrounded
by quacking wild ducks
deep in the water,
softly moving his fins,
a carp, dreaming
© Morikawa Kyoroku
Now my attempts to write in the spirit of today’s poet:
morning light
the first blossoms of spring
bloom over-night
under the castle
sparrows clamber for breakfast
near the fountain
© G.s.k. ‘16
Carpe Diem Special #201 Basho’s disciples: Morikawa Kyoroku’s “morning glories”
Narrowing The Focus – Haiku Writing Techniques – March 10, 2016
wet grass
in the courtyard
under the persimmon tree
rain drops on grass
in Padua
the winter gardens glisten
icy rain drops
© G.s.k. ‘16
“a morning of snow
only the onions in the garden
blaze the trail
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold
This Haiku Writing Technique is called Narrowing The Focus and was often used by Yosa Buson (1716-1784)) because, he as an artist, a painter, was a very visual person. Basho and earlier poets were completely comfortable in using this haiku writing technique.
The above poem starts basically with a wide-angle lens on the world in the 1st line, then switches to a normal lens for the 2nd line and zooms in for a close up in the end. The technique sounds simple, and when done well it’s very effective in bringing the reader’s attention down to one basic element or fact of the haiku.
Other examples by Basho:
old village
not a house without
a persimmon tree
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
a grassy plain
the moon is a young sprout
from Pine Island seed
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)”
Rain – Haiku Writing Techniques – March 9, 2016
last rains of winter
raindrops tip-tap on the roof
and on window panes
grey winter days
looking at the rain fall
cold wet memories
students and workers
riding through the town on bikes
under cold rainfall
§§§
watching the rain fall
counting the days until spring
discarding winter
and yet the mountains are white
with late snowfall
endless rainfall
smell of mould and cabbages
waft through the air
greeting the weary visitors
in the ancient farm-house
© G.s.k. ‘16
First a look at Shiki:
You’ll often read that haiku shouldn’t be describing a scene – one is to look for that “a-ha!” quality that will have our reader touch upon a sort of surprised moment creating a sensation of some inner meaning. However, in modern haiku, Masoaoka Shiki felt that haiku had become trite, dusty and “contrived” with all its artificial rules and puns accumulated from the old renga schools. Shiki, like other Meiji Period writers truly enjoyed the realism of Western literature, and this is evident in his approach and recommended composition form based on Shasei (“realistic observation of nature”) or sketch from life which he interjected into his prose writing, haiku and tanka as his principal style.
A lightning flash:
between the forest trees
I have seen water.
But this month we walk with Basho … so here is a quote from today’s episode at CDHK:
“In the way of Basho:
a rainy day
the autumn world
of a border town
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold
In this haiku Basho uses the so-called “sketch” or “shasei” technique. Though this technique is often given Shiki’s term “shasei” or “shajitsu” it’s not really a technique which is invented by Shiki. This technique has been in use since the beginning of poetry in Asia. The poetic principle is “to depict the thing just as it is”. There are some inspirations for haiku that are best said as simply as possible. Shiki wrote his haiku almost all with this “shasei”, but Shiki realized himself in 1893 that the overuse of this technique could produce many lackluster haiku, so it should never be the only method employed in a haiku.
early autumn
the sea and rice fields
one green
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold
(There are many more examples of Basho’s poetry on today’s post so click the link)
Morning Haiku and Waka – Basho’s Writing Techniques – March 6, 2016
swinging bridge
first one thinks of
meeting horses
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
“This haiku was written in autumn 1688 and is about a bridge in Kiso. The Kiso area was known for high quality horses raised there on August 15th it was the customary for the emperor to inspect his horses. All the horses from this district had to cross this bridge to go to Tokyo.
Due to his renga-writing skills. Basho was a master at making wild, wide leaps in the linking of the images in his poems. Today the haiku writing technique used by Basho is Leap Linkage. In this haiku the linkage leap is so wide that a footnote of explanation for readers four centuries and thousands of miles away to follow it is needed. This is one of the problems of making an innovative or wide leap – how to get the reader’s mind to track it over the abyss without getting lost. The important point in creating with this technique is that the writer is Always totally aware of his or her truth. This is rare in haiku, because in haiku the poet needs the reader. Usually, if the reader thinks about the words long enough and deeply enough, he can find the author’s truth, or better still, a new one.” (CDHK)
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This is my attempt for the leap linkage technique:
On New Year’s day I was invited by a friend to go on a walk. We climbed up a steep hill-side to a metal cross that over-looks the lower Sarca valley. Being completely out of shape the only thing that kept me walking was the spectacular photographs that I’d have been able to take. Unfortunately my camera’s batteries died after the third or fourth photo. I admit to being terribly disappointed. Later returning to her car at sunset I took a few photographs with my telephone. The above is one of them.
fenced in
a teasing purple sunset
New Year’s day
© G.s.k. ‘16
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(In Western haiku we learn that rhyme has no part of the form … which like many other rules of Western haiku has little to do with the reality of Japanese haiku. Let’s read what Chèvrefeuille tells you in this episode of CDHK dedicated to haiku writing techniques of Master Basho.)
nebu no ki no hagoshi mo itoe hoshi no kage
a silk tree
even through the leaves waery
of starlight
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
In the way of Basho
“Rhyme is a major component of Western poetry. In Japan most of the sound units (onji) are built on only five vowels, and rhyming occurs naturally. Yet, haiku translated into rhymed lines often need so much padding to make the rhyme work that the simplicity of the poem gets lost. However, if the reader takes the time to read the romaji version of the above haiku by Basho. one can see how often the old master employed the linkage of sound in his work. The rhyme, in the above haiku, occurs here with hagoshi(“through leaves”), hoshi (“star”), and the seven “oh” sounds.” (CDHK)
(So we must conclude that the problem is not writing rhyming haiku, but translating Japanese haiku which is often rhymed but untranslatable as a rhyming poem in western languages if we wish to keep the haiku poetic/aesthetic form.)
My attempt at haiku rhyme:
inside city walls
without stalls metal horses
line Padua’s malls
© G.s.k. ‘16
(As Chèvrefeuille would say, not very strong haiku today … perhaps I’ll try these techniques sometime again in the future 😉 )
Carpe Diem #931 Bridge and Carpe Diem #932 silk tree
Hello!
As many might have remarked, I’ve not been as assiduously writing as I usually do. This is not due to any lack of enthusiasm, but shoddy Internet. It takes forever for a single page to come up on my browser if there is a connection at all, which is becoming terribly frustrating. So this post will be in fact a response to two prompted themes bridge and silk tree from Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
Mirror – Basho’s Thoughts – March 4, 2016
Padua
at its centre
pulsates the heart of history
our modernity
reflections of the past
envisioned in daily life
reflection ..
history wherever one looks
in Italy
© G.s.k. ‘16
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“This month we are exploring Basho’s way of writing haiku … we walk his path with its many different haiku writing techniques. Some of those haiku writing techniques came along here in our special feature “Carpe Diem Haiku Writing Techniques” and some didn’t. As for today’s episode mirror … its one of the haiku writing techniques which came along in the first series of CD-HWT last year.
rabbit-ear iris
how much it looks like
its image in water
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
In this haiku Basho uses the technique of comparison. This technique is very close to the technique of association, which we had in our first regular episode of this month, that it may seem they are the same. There is, however, a slight / vital difference. All comparisons are associations, but not all associations are comparative. The above haiku by Basho is a great example of this technique and this idea.
In the words of Betty Drevniok:
“In haiku the SOMETHING and the SOMETHING ELSE are set down together in clearly stated images. Together they complete and fulfill each other as ONE PARTICULAR EVENT.”
She rather leaves the reader to understand that the idea of comparison is showing how two different things are similar or share similar aspects.”
Wind Bag – Basho’s Thoughts – March 2, 2016
spring storms
wind howling down the mountains
scattering blossoms
old man blustering
uproots creativity
withered blossoms
fragile blossoms
destroyed in the spring
by the northern wind
blowing force of nature
withers all it touches
© G.s.k. ‘16
NaHaiWriMo – Zig-Zag – February 13, 2016
up and down the hills
the waif staggers zigzagging
seeking shelter
only welcome if she paid
alone – she left the city
© G.s.k. ‘16
The tanka is inspired by a story Basho told in his Narrow Road:
The voices of two young women whispering in the next room, however, came creeping into my ears. They were talking to an elderly man, and I gathered from their whispers that they were concubines from Niigata in the province of Echigo, and that the old man, having accompanied them on their way to the Ise Shrine, was going home the next day with their messages to their relatives and friends.
I sympathized with them, for as they said themselves among their whispers, their life was such that they had to drift along even as the white froth of waters that beat on the shore, and having been forced to find a new companion each night, they had to renew their pledge of love at every turn, thus proving each time the fatal sinfulness of their nature. I listened to their whispers till fatigue lulled me to sleep. When, on the following morning, I stepped into the road, I met these women again. They approached me and said with some tears in their eyes, ‘We are forlorn travelers, complete strangers on this road. Will you be kind enough at least to let us follow you? If you are a priest as your black robe tells us, have mercy on us and help us to learn the great love of our Savior.’ ‘I am greatly touched by your words,’ I said in reply after a moment’s thought, ‘but we have so many places to stop at on the way that we cannot help you. Go as other travelers go. If you have trust in the Savior, you will never lack His divine protection.’ As I stepped away from them, however, my heart was filled with persisting pity.
in the same house
prostitutes, too, slept:
bush clover and moon
© Basho (Tr. David Landis Barnhill)
Old Pond – Translastion into Italian – February 7, 2016
Basho’s “the old pond”
furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto
the old pond;
a frog jumps in —
the sound of the water
© Basho (Tr. R.H.Blyth
For this new adventure proposed by Chèvrefeuille of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, we are to translate the famous “old pond” haiku written by Basho into our own language. Though I am not Italian, I’ve spoken the language for over 40 years so .. I can manage to write a haiku.
Not long ago, I came across a site called Matsuo Basho’s Frog Haiku. Here there are 31 translations of the famous poem, because haiku is not only words but sensations.
The famous Zen master D.T. Suzuki translated it like this:
Into the ancient pond
A frog jumps
Water’s sound!
Cid Corman, an American poet and translator wrote it like this:
old pond
frog leaping
splash
Alan Watts, who is one of my favourite writers about all mystic things oriental, but especially Zen, translated it like this:
The old pond,
A frog jumps in:
Plop!
One of the translation is very verbose, it is one of the first translations and was done by another American, Curtis Hidden Page …
A lonely pond in age-old stillness sleeps . . .
Apart, unstirred by sound or motion . . . till
Suddenly into it a lithe frog leaps.
And lastly the beat generation through Alan Ginsberg translated it like this:
The old pond
A frog jumped in,
Kerplunk!
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The basic elements then are: a frog and an unkempt or perhaps just very old pond … with mould on the rocks and watery plants … maybe something like this:
We can imagine that it might be a warm day … or perhaps it’s in the evening. Perhaps Basho was meditating when he heard the sound of water and decided that it was a frog .. perhaps he saw the frog jump into the water … and what is the spiritual implications of the frog jumping into the pond – could this be a metaphor of something else?
How would I translate all this in Italian?
al vecchio stagno
si tuffa una rana
SPLASH!
Basho (Tr. G.s.k. ’16)
(it’s interesting to note the onomatopoeic for an object hitting waster is splash)
translated back into English this would be
at the old pond
a frog dives in
kurplunk
Basho (Tr. G.s.k. ’16
The other day I wrote a completely different post for: Carpe Diem Vernacular, with a twist #1 the old pond because I misunderstood the prompt thinking we were to choose a haiku and translate it …
Bastet and Sekhmet's Library 