Hicks,+Rachael

= ** Japanese Haiku and its Influence on Japanese Literature ** =

Originally called hokku, Haiku, given the name by Japanese writer Masaoka Shiki, is a form of Japanese poetry. It consists of 17 moras, which are units that determine syllable weight, in phrases of 5, 7, and 5. Characteristic of a haiku are a reference to a season, or kigo, and a cutting word, or kireji, which usually appears at the conclusion of one of the three phrases. Also characteristic of Japanese haikus is the fact that the subject matter will most always center around elements of the natural world. Traditionally, in Japanese haiku, the format consists of a single, vertical line. According to an article detailing Matsuo Basho and the poetics of haiku: The true poet has his mind entirely transparent, as it were, at the moment of his composition. An external object enters the mind and dyes it in its own color, whereupon a poem emerges by itself. Such a poem would be the purest type of haiku, the ‘haiku without impure thoughts,’ as Basho describes it elsewhere. This concept at once explains the extremely short form of haiku. The haiku form presupposes a complete purgation of the poet’s egoism during his creative activity. But the poet will not stay in this state of mind for more than a few moments, because he, being a social and a biological existence also, cannot live without his egoism. The haiku crystallizes a glow coming out of this momentary self-denial; it must be short.” (Ueda 424)

The Great Four
__ Matsuo Basho (1644-November 28, 1694) __ Born originally Matsuo Kinsaku, then known as Matsuo Chuemon Munafusa, Basho was the most well known poet of Japan’s Edo period and is hailed as a master of haiku. Basho’s first extant poem was published in 1662 and two of his hokku were printed in 1664. Following recognition for his poetry by the literary circles of Nihonbashi, he was accepted into the inner circle of the profession in 1674. In the years that followed he held a job teaching twenty disciples. In 1680, he made a move to allow for a more private life and relocated to Fukagawa. Experiences following this move include, his dabbling, unsuccessfully in Zen meditation, the burning down of his original hut built by his disciples and the subsequent rebuilding, the death of his mother, trips to Mount Fuji, Ueno, and Kyoto, and finally, a return to Edo and his teaching position. Before his death, Basho once again left Edo and traveled to Ueno, Kyoto, and Osaka. In 1694, he died of a stomach illness.

Among Basho’s aesthetic ideas are eight principle ideas. These include: “sabi, shiori, hosomi, ‘inspiration,’ ‘fragrance,’ ‘reverberation,’ ‘reflection,’ and ‘lightness.’ The first three and ‘lightness’ define the philosophical and religious implications which lie behind the haiku form. The remaining four are concerned with the technique of haiku, the technique with which these implications would e best expressed in an actual work.” (Ueda 425) Matsuo Basho’s Most Famous Haiku:

Furuike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto

Separated into:

fu-ru-i-ke ya (5) ka-wa-zu to-bi-ko-mu (7) mi-zu no o-to (5)

Translated:

old pond… a frog leaps in water’s sound

__Masaoka Shiki (September 17, 1867-September 19, 1902)__

Shiki was a prominent poet of the Japanese Meiji period, credited with being an instrumental figure in the development of modern Japanese haiku. Shiki was born into a Samurai class family, of a father who was a low-ranking official, and a mother who was a teacher. Instrumental to his future in the literary field, was his uncle who arranged for him to go to Tokyo, where he enrolled in a preparatory school. He later enrolled in the literature department at Imperial University in 1890. In regards to his literary career Shiki was anadvocate of the modernization of Japanese poetry. He introduced the terms haiku, to replace stand-alone hokku, and tanka, to replace the waka, consisting of 31 moras. Following a lifetime battle with tuberculosis, he died on September 19, 1902, after keeping detailed journals of his physical deterioration.

__Yosa Buson (1716-December 25, 1783)__ Buson was a Japanese poet and painter of the Edo period and considered to be one of the great poets of this period. At the ago of twenty, he moved to Edo and studied under Hayano Hajin, a haiku master. Following Hajin’s death, Buson moved to Shimosa Province. Following his travels through Japan, following in Basho’s footsteps, he then rooted himself in Kyoto. Buson then married and fathered a daughter. In the years that followed Buson remained in Kyoto where he wrote and taught poetry at the Sumiya. In 1770, he assumed the haigo ,haikai pen name, of Yahantei, which had been the pen name of his teacher Hayano Hajin. Buson died at the age of 68.

__Kubayashi Issa (June 15, 1763-January 5, 1828)__ Issa was a Japanese poet and Buddhist priest, and known as a haiku master. Following his mother’s death, Issa was cared for by his grandmother. He gained a half-brother when his father remarried and had another child. The death of his grandmother left him feeling alone in his own home, amongst his family. He was eventually sent to Edo by his father and from this point and through the next ten years, very little is known of his life. At the age of forty nine, Issa married and had a child, who died shortly after birth. Another child died two and a half years later. In 1820, a third child died, followed by his wife in 1823. The deaths of his family members inspired haikus. He later remarried twice more. In later years, Issa ended up living in a storehouse following a fire that destroyed his house. He died on January 5, 1828. Issa wrote over 20,000 haiku, a great many of them being about insects.

Influence
Similar to Buddhist assumptions regarding nature, "all natural beauty is transitory and fleeting, but the principle of beauty lives on in the everchanging, ever constant metamorphoses of the seasons"( Miner 572). As the seasons play an instrumental role in Japanese haiku, many Japanese authors follow suit with the text of their novels. Included in many modern Japanese works of literature is great detail when describing nature or landscapes. In the following excerpt from Yasunari Kawabata's //Snow Country,// the landscape of the winter season is described. "The sky was clouding over. Mountains still in the sunlight stood out against shadowed mountaints. The play of light and shade changed from moment to moment, stretching a chilly landscape. Presently the ski grounds too were in shadow. Below the window Shimamura could see little needles of frost like ising-glass among the withered chrysanthemums, though water was still dripping from the snow on the roof" (Kawabata 76).

Like the haiku poets before them, the work of modern Japanese authors reflect the environment and the affected emotions.

Links
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Resources
Kawabata, Yasunari. //Snow Country//. New York: Vintage Books, 1956. Print. Miner, Earl. "Pound, Haiku and the Image." //The Hudson Review//. 9.4 (1957): 570-584. Print. Ueda, Makoto. "Basho and the Poetics of 'Haiku.'" //The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism//. 21.4 (1963): 423-431. Print.