Basho's thoughts on...
Matsuo Basho 1644~1694
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.
basho4humanity
@gmail.com
Plea for Affiliation
Plea For Affiliation
I pray for your help
in finding someone
- individual, university,
or foundation -
to take over my
3000 pages of material,
to cooperate with me
to edit the material,
to receive all royalties
from sales, to spread
Basho’s wisdom worldwide,
and preserve for
future generations.
basho4humanity
@gmail.com
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Bilingual Basho 日本語も
To achieve the most profound understanding of Basho in my American mind, I find it useful to study Japanese commentaries to his links and haiku, translate them to English, and explore the relationships between the ideas in both languages. Each article in this series explores a single linked verse or haiku first in English, then in Japanese. I hope students of Japanese Language will find this an effective way to learn the language.
Basho's Mona Lisa:
Wrapping rice cake / with one hand she tucks / hair behind ear 粽ゆう /片手にはさむ
/額髪 Chimaki yuu / katate ni hasamu / hitae-gami
...
H-01
To the Goddess of Mercy
Night in spring /one hidden in mystery / temple corner // 春の夜や / 籠り人ゆかし / 堂の隅
At Hase Temple, a famous place of pilgrimage for women to pray to Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy, Ba ...
H-02
The Eternal Mother (Renku)
By moonlight / my poor mother at work / beside the window / She would hide fingers /stained with indigo // もる月を / 賤しき母の / 窓に見て/ 藍にしみ付く/指かくすらん ...
H-03
Young and Helpless - A Basho Renku
Young and helpless / with bow and arrows / the boy kneels /
White hair seen through / gaps in bamboo blind
弓と矢も /まだいたいけに / 膝まずき /
白髪さし出す/ 簾のあわせむ ...
H-04
Empower to Soften
By moonlight washing hair / with lather of rice bran / Lighting lantern / and providing cloth bats / to her children 月夜 に髪 を / あらう揉み出し / 火とばして 砧あ違う 子供達
By moonl ...
H-05
She Folds, She Kindles
Sister from the Capital /here to have her baby /Weaving she folds / from flowers at wife's door /incense she kindles 都の妹が /子をうみに来る /機たたむ /妻戸に花の /香を焼きて
...
H-06
Coins Held in Her Hand (Renku)
In a hurry he /writes a note and leaves it /inside the door /
Coins held in her hand /the grandmother cries
立ながら / 文書て置く / 見せの端 /
銭持って / 手にて祖母の / 泣るる
M ...
H-07
Response to Bullying (Renku)
That clique of /smart-ass co-workers /hates on her /Cinder burns her hem /so she rubs it out 才ばりの 傍 ぼう輩中ばいちゅうに憎まれて/ 焼焦したる 小妻 こづま もみ消す ...
H-08
Married to a Thief
Startled by clappers /a window in the thicket / Sister cries / for her life married / to a thief // 鳴子おどろく/ 方藪の窓 / 盗人に / 連れ添う妹が / 身を泣て ...
H-09
Standing Up to Patriarchy
Beneath her eyelids /overflow the stars / Forced to stand / against her will, she dances / so delicately // まぶたに星のこばれかかれる / 引き立てむりに舞するたおやかさ
Beneath her e ...
H-10
Spring Passes By - A Tanka of Hope
Spring passes by / again and again in layers /of blossom kimono /may you see wrinkles /come with old age
いく春を / かさねがさねの / 花ごろも / しはよるまでの / 老もみるべく
Iku haru o / ...
H-11
Lingering on... (Tanka)
“Lingering on"/ I take down the doll and/ look at her face / Again starting to weep / cough of consumption 名残ぞと/ 取置 雛の/ 顔をみて/ また泣入りし/ 労咳のせき& ...
H-12
Breastfeeding on my lap
In the old capital /remains his spirit's house /No longer black /with plectrum for lute /scalp I scratch /Breastfeeding on my lap /what dreams do you see?
In a renku seque ...
H-13
Day and Night Dreams (Renku)
fter the years / of grieving ... finally / past eighteeen / Day and night dreams / of Father in that battle
うき年を / 取りてはたちも / 漸漸過ぎぬ
父のいくさを / 起きふしの夢 &n ...
H-14
To Quiet Down the Heart
To quiet down / the unsettled heart /of the daughter /Night sweats have stopped /in this morning’s dream定らぬ / 娘のこころ / 取りしづめ / 寝汗のとまる / 今朝がたの夢
&nbs ...
H-15
Her Life-Force
Glaring about / she orders the children / to “behave!” / While roasting bean paste / some ash she puffs away // 行儀能 よく せよと子供をねめ廻し / 焼き味噌の灰吹きはらいつつ
...
H-16
To Give Birth
Rice seedlings sprout / for our trasured grass /to give birth / to love in the world / she adorns
早苗 はじめて / 得し 寶 草 / 世の愛を / 産みけん人の / 御粧
Rice seedlings spr ...
H-17
Hope With the Mother-Daughter Bond
With her needle / in autumn she manages / to make ends meet / Daughter playing koto / reaches age seven // お針して / 秋も命の / 緒を繋ぎ / 琴 引 娘 / 八っになりける
...
H-18
Straw Mats their Shields (Renku)
For some coolness
kids throw off their clotheswaiting for the moon
Straw mats their shieldsthey run and jump about
“Are you asleep?”strange that the dog’s tailholds its shape
芭蕉連 ...
H-19
Though my Thoughts (Renku)
From slender threads/ love gets so intense/ Though my thoughts/ are of love “eat something!”/ she commands me ほそ筋より/ 恋つのりつつ/ 物おもう/ 身にもの喰えと ...
H-20
Can I Trust You?
Now to this brothel my body has been sold I entrust you with a letter I wrote, mirror polisher
此ごろ室に / 身を売られたる / 文書いて / たのむ便よりの / 鏡とぎ
Most “play-wome ...
H-21
Everyone of You
Everyone of you / in nadeshiko time / Starting to weep / earthenware trembles / in your weakness
君はみなみな / なでしこの時 / 泣き出して / 土器ふるふ / 身のよわり
Complete Basho Ren ...
H-22
Joy of Girls
Over sun-bleached whites / lark sings to the sky / Girls only / going to view blossoms / rise in a flock
晒の上に / ひばり囀る // 花見にと /女子ばかりが /つれ立て
Over sun-bleached whites
...
H-23
Filled with Pity
The aged nun tells / a story with feeling / Filled with pity / her message to rescue / abandoned child / A deer pulls the sleeve / of someone in the village 老尼はなしの / 叙ありけり /&nb ...
H-24
The Sensual Basho
Summoned to the palace /ashamed by the gossip / Easing in / my slender forearm /for your pillow // 宮に
めされし /うき名はずかし /手枕に /ほそき腕 を /さし入れて
...
H-25
Love vs. Shame' Anthropology in Basho
The boss pretends / not to see their love / yet he knows / Figures half hidden / behind the umbrella
見ぬふりの /主人に恋を /しられけり /すがた半分 / かくす傘
&n ...
H-26
Chant of Lotus Sutra
Sunshiny day /celestial maiden caresses /the rock spring /Chant of Lotus Sutra /at the window elegantly //
はるる日は /石の井なでる /天おとめ /艶なる窓に /法華読む声
...
H-27
As the Goddess Lakshmi
As the goddess Lakshmi /so indeed is the Moon /A good omen /headdress on mountaintop /clouds at dawn
吉祥天女も/これほどの月/あつらえの/瓔珞かかる/山かづら
Basho in 1675, only 33 years of ...
H-28
Vulgar Words to Insult
Vulgar words to insult / the wife and daughter / All the guests / sit there cold, freezing / at the kotatsu
嫁とむすめに / わる口をこく / 客は皆 /さむくてこおる / 火燵 ...
H-29
Basho's thoughts on...
Matsuo Basho 1644~1694
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.
basho4humanity
@gmail.com
Plea for Affiliation
Plea For Affiliation
I pray for your help
in finding someone
- individual, university,
or foundation -
to take over my
3000 pages of material,
to cooperate with me
to edit the material,
to receive all royalties
from sales, to spread
Basho’s wisdom worldwide,
and preserve for
future generations.
basho4humanity
@gmail.com
