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.
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 moonlight washing hair with lather of rice bran
Lighting lantern and providing cloth bats to her children
Basho Renku Interpretations, volume 8, p. 138
芭蕉連句全注解 ８巻 ｐ。138
Tsukiyo ni kami o / arau momidashi Kyoriku
２６ 月夜 に髪 を / あらう揉み出し 許六
月夜に井戸側で糠袋をつかって髪を洗う女の姿。
In the moonlight beside the well, a woman washes her hair with the lather from wet rice bran.
Hi tobashite / kinuta atagau / kodomotachi Bashō
２７ 火とばして / 砧あたがう / 子供達 芭蕉
髪を洗う女性は、娘たちが household work が出来るように灯と 砧を提供します。
The woman who washes her hair gives her daughters a lantern and cloth bats so they can do household work. By moonlight washing hair with lather of rice bran Lighting lantern and providing cloth bats to her children Mother works from sun up to sun down; finally she takes a break in the evening, to wash her long black locks. Beside the well, she rubs a cotton bag of wet rice bran between her hands; the saponin or soap-like foam that emerges through the fabric has been used for shampoo, as well as face and body wash, since ancient times. Rice bran is rich in anti-oxidants, vitamins, and minerals which moisturize and strengthen hair, protect it from ultraviolet rays, and prevent hair loss. Thus rice bran lather empowers a woman’s hair to remain smooth and silky for decades.
In an era without irons, after washing clothing woven from hand-spun yarn, women beat the damp cloth with kinuta, cloth bats, so it would dry soft and smooth – but the cloth bat in Basho poetry can represent any work women do on cloth to make it wearable. This can be an individual mother giving her daughters work to do in the evening, or can be iconic, a symbol for all mothers passing on the torch to their daughters, the older then the younger. She gives them Light – a bit of the Sun emerging from a lantern – and Work, the long tradition of females working day and night without complaint, simply working, generation after generation – only taking time off to care for their hair.
Although we do not wash our hair with rice bran shampoo, get light from lanterns, or use cloth bats, these images can be symbols for the work we do in our modern lives. ‘Lighting lantern’ represents education, the means to overcome poverty and deprivation, while bats give hands the ability to have a desired effect. The link between the two stanzas is traditional Japanese female consciousness of how to use simple means to improve life.
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 presentation, to receive all royalties from sales, to spread Basho’s wisdom worldwide and preserve for future generations.
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.
