Basho
(1644-93) was born near Kyoto in modest circumstances.
He gave up the samurai life, and concentrated on becoming
a professional poet and Zen student, slowly collecting disciples
and some fame. In 1684 Basho started his well-known journeys,
an obsession that pursued him to his death. Basho's achievement
was to turn a literary entertainment into a serious art
form, one that quickly became a favourite
among Japanese
poets. Long poems (renga) would start with a striking
introduction (hokku) and this introduction Basho developed
into an independent poem that startled the reader into realizing
the world with fresh depth and clarity.
Interpreting the haiku
Haiku
poetry is deceptively simple:
a three-line poems of 5, 7 and 5 syllables, with a break
(kereji), and a season word. Diction is plain, but still
exploits the allusion, symbolism, allegory, and transcendence
inherent in all language. Japanese haiku tends to echo Zen
Buddhism, and be densely patterned. Modern haiku can be
written by anyone, but good poems need an openness to revelation
and some literary discipline: even Basho agonized
over his lines. Haiku aesthetics is therefore important,
and raises issues
central to creativity
and contemporary
verse.
Writing haiku poetry
Haiku is thriving in many countries:Japan,
USA, Canada,
UK,
France,
Germany, Brazil,
Russia, Ireland
and elsewhere.
English verse in particular is not naturally syllabic, and
contemporary haiku tends to relax the 5-7-5 and the season
word requirements. In fact it has become an artform of its
own, with important ramifications.
Haiku poetry sees beauty as the revelation of truth –
no doubt with training, but intuitively and immediately :
a view that was (independently) an important theme of Modernist
poetry. Even Post-modernist poetry,
with its collage of received media images, stresses the contemporary
world, though it tends to regard beauty as cultural stereotyping.
Books on haiku poetry and Japanese
literature
Haiku poetry bibliographies can be found onvirtual
japan, haikuworld,
poetrystore
and insouthsea.
Recommended books include: R.H. Blythe's The History of
Haiku (1963-4), S.H. Gill and C. Andrew's Rediscovering
Basho (1999), L. Downer's On the Narrow Road: Journey
into a Lost Japan, R. Aitken's A Zen Wave:Basho's Haiku
and Zen (1979), W.J. Higginson's The Haiku Handbook:
How to Write, Share and Teach Haiku (1985), A Hidden
Pond: Anthology of Modern Haiku (1997) and W.J. Higginson's
The Haiku Seasons (1997). See here
for a brief history of Japanese literature, here
for contemporary arts in Japan and here
for an extensive list of magazines publishing haiku.
