Lucien Stryk (Translation) (1985),
On Love and Barley: Haiku of Basho, London: Penguin Books, pp.92
‘Learn about a pine tree from a
pine tree, and about a bamboo stalk from a bamboo stalk.’
-Basho
This is the kind of poetry book
that feels like treasure. It has verses in translation that is accessible
without draining away too much across languages, a form of poetry that is short
and unique, beautiful Taiga paintings as you move from one set of verses to another
and an excellent introductory essay and reader-friendly notes at the end. Even
though you are new to this form, you will not be lost here except in the Haiku
themselves.
Philosophy
of Haiku
Haiku, in its traditional seventeen
syllable form, has two parts. The first part is often the depiction of a
condition as found in nature and the second part is a feeling of sudden perception.
These two parts are divided abruptly by a cutting-phrase in Japanese called kireji, rendered in the English
translation as an emphatic punctuation like the hyphen. The philosophy behind
Haiku was that a moment that was taken from a context, devoid of antecedence (past
time, memory) or consequences (future time or anticipation) is capable of
attaining transcendental unity. Haiku significantly differed from other forms
of poetry by demanding active audience participation for the completion of its
rendition. Every Haiku begins in the poet’s mind and ends in the reader’s.
Basho’s
legacy
Matsuo Kinsake was the greatest Japanese
Haiku poet of the Tokugawa period of the seventeenth century Japan. He wrote
under the name Basho, in honour of the broad-leaved banana tree (originally
called Basho in Japanese) that one of
his disciples gifted him. He revolutionalized traditional Haiku that was
originally practiced by scholarly poets, freeing it from the rigid orthodoxy of
rules. He infused lightness (karumi),
solitude (sabi) and sparseness (wabi) of Zen in his signature Shofu-style Haiku. In his lifetime, he
is thought to have written at least 1000 Haikus, often tucked away in his much-loved
travel sketches written in haibun
style (haiku followed by prose). The central concern in his poetry is the
appreciation and elevation of the mundane and the commonplace.
To capture Basho’s haiku in other
languages is a daunting task and Lucien Stryk has done an amazing job rendering
it in English. Some of his poems are poignant and some self-deprecatingly
funny, but all of them leave you with lingering poignancy. Most of his poetry
dwells on the movement of time, the cycle of seasons and the evolution of mind
with the natural flow of life. His love for Edo (modern Tokyo), mountain Fuji,
cherry blossoms and the landscape of Japan is equally matched by his friendship
with fellow poets and philosophers and love for enigmatic women. He loves,
lives, celebrates, complains and grieves, seventeen syllables at a time.
Reading this volume is having the
privilege to roam around freely with him. Though separated in time and place,
across language and form, Basho talks to you and thinks with you. He belongs to
all of us and to all time and ages. In his own words,
House of fancy-
Dozing there, it
Was all mine.
And now, it is all ours too!
