Basho's thoughts on...

• Woman Central
• Introduction to this site
• The Human Story:
• Praise for Women
• Love and Sex in Basho
• Children and Teens
• Humanity and Friendship
• On Translating Basho
• Basho Himself
• Poetry and Music
• The Physical Body
• Food, Drink, and Fire
• Animals in Basho
• Space and Time
• Letters Year by Year
• Bilingual Basho 日本語も
• 芭蕉について日本語の論文
• Basho Tsukeku 芭蕉付句
• BAMHAY (Basho Amazes Me! How About You?)
• New Articles


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.



Basho Spoken Word


Only this, apply your heart
to what children do


"The attachment to Oldness
is the very worst disease
a poet can have."


“The skillful have a disease;
let a three-foot child
get the poem"


"Be sick and tired
of yesterday’s self."


"This is the path of a fresh
lively taste with aliveness
in both heart and words."
.

"In poetry is a realm
which cannot be taught.
You must pass through it
yourself. Some poets have made
no effort to pass through, merely
counting things and trying
to remember them.
There was no passing
through the things."


"In verses of other poets,
there is too much making
and the heart’s
immediacy is lost.
What is made from
the heart is good;
the product of words
shall not be preferred."


"We can live without poetry,
yet without harmonizing
with the world’s feeling
and passing not through
human feeling, a person
cannot be fulfilled. Also,
without good friends,
this would be difficult."


"Poetry benefits
from the realization
of ordinary words."


"Many of my followers
write haiku equal to mine,
however in renku is the
bone marrow of this old man."


"Your following stanza
should suit the previous one as an expression
of the same heart's connection."


"Link verses the way
children play."


"Make renku
ride the Energy.
Get the timing wrong,
you ruin the rhythm."


"The physical form
first of all must be graceful
then a musical quality
makes a superior verse."

"As the years passed
by to half a century.
asleep I hovered
among morning clouds
and evening dusk,
awake I was astonished
at the voices of mountain
streams and wild birds."


“These flies sure enjoy
having an unexpected
sick person.”



Haiku of Humanity


Drunk on sake
woman wearing haori
puts in a sword


Night in spring
one hidden in mystery
temple corner


Wrapping rice cake
with one hands she tucks
hair behind ear


On Life's journey
plowing a small field
going and returning


Child of poverty
hulling rice, pauses to
look at the moon


Tone so clear
the Big Dipper resounds
her mallet


Huddling
under the futon, cold
horrible night


Jar cracks
with the ice at night
awakening



Basho Renku
Masterpieces

With her needle
in autumn she manages
to make ends meet
Daughter playing koto
reaches age seven


After the years
of grieving. . . finally
past eighteen
Day and night dreams of
Father in that battle


Now to this brothel
my body has been sold
Can I trust you
with a letter I wrote,
mirror polisher?


Only my face
by rice-seedling mud
is not soiled
Breastfeeding on my lap
what dreams do you see?



Single renku stanzas


Giving birth to
love in the world, she
adorns herself



Autumn wind
saying not a word
child in tears


Among women
one allowed to lead
them in chorus


Easing in
her slender forearm
for his pillow


Two death poems:


On a journey taken ill
dreams on withered fields
wander about

Clear cascade -
into the ripples fall
green pine needles




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

 



Home  >  Topics  >  Bilingual Basho 日本語も  >  H-08


Response to Bullying (Renku)

いじめえの反応 – Ijime e no hannō

Legend:
Words of Basho in bold
Words of other poets not bold

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                                            

 

That clique of

smart-ass co-workers

hates on her

Cinder burns her hem

so she rubs it out

 

Complete Basho Renku Interpretations vol. 8, p. 79

芭蕉連句全注解、8巻、p. 79 7

 

       Saibari no / houbaichuu ni / nikumarete      Kyokusui
 7      才ばりの / 傍輩中に  /  憎まれて                               曲水

 

「才ばり」-才能がないくせに専門家を気取る-が同僚をいじめる。

“Talent stretchers”  with little talent they pretend to be experts, so “smart-ass”

fits them – bully one of their co-workers.

 

Yaki kogashitaru / kozuma momi kesu          Basho

 8     焼焦したる 小妻もみ消す            芭蕉

 

薪ストーブを焚いていたら、燃えかすでスカートに穴が開いてしまった。親指と人差し指の間に挟んでつぶす。

         Working at the wood stove, a cinder burns a hole in her skirt. She crushes it

         between her thumb and forefinger.

 

Saibari no / houbaichuu ni / nikumarete        Kyokusui

Yaki kogashitaru / kozuma momi kesu            Basho

 


小判口で小生意気な中間連中に憎まれて、 粗末な部屋をあてがわれた町家の下女か丁稚か 8 焼焦したる 小妻 こづま もみ消す 芭蕉 小妻=小褄=衣服のつまさき。 下女です。 着物の小褄を焦して、皆からにくまれ口を叩かれながら いそぎもみ消す袋。 「平生口数多く物いひさしでなどして傍輩に憎まれる女の、たまたま小褄焼き 焦がしたるを、きみよき事に ひたるみるが如し」は自他反対。

 

Young Japanese today consider Basho “impersonal,” “old-fashioned,” and “a poet of wabi-sabi,” having no relevance to modern life, however here is a linked verse in which Basho’s stanza penetrates right to the heart of a problem plaguing our society today: bullying.

 

A group of female servants is working together in the kitchen around the wood-burning stove. Kyokusui portrays the underhand cruelty of teenage girls who think they are so great to one who does not fit in with their clique. Saibari, literally “talent stretcher,” is someone with a little talent who pretends to be an expert – so “smart-ass” fits her. Basho focuses on the young female responding to a physical problem – a cinder from the fire burns a hole in the hem of her house robe – with simple direct action that immediately puts it out. She does not fuss over the bit of burning matter, or complain about it, or get angry at it. She simply crushes it between her thumb and forefinger.

 

I think Basho means what we today call “attitude.” The girl who is bullied does not give up and submit, nor does she get upset in fighting back – cool and calm, with her attitude, she “rubs it out.” She rubs out the power of the bullying to upset her. I hope victims of bullying find some wisdom from this verse helping you to deal with the bullies. Just “rub it out.” while your remain whole.

 

Maybe this tip from the anti-bullying website Bystander Revolution will link up with Basho’s stanza:

Sometimes all you need is 10 seconds of courage.
Imagine how good you’re going to feel when you say what you need to say.
Take a deep breath, and say what’s in your heart.

 

Demi Lovato, well-known for her advocacy of victims of bullying, says:

 

“Confident women don't let anyone — men or other women — trash talk or undermine their dignity. They make their own choices about self-identity and to be who they are, flaws and all. Don't let anyone tear you down.” May girls and women who are bullied use this Basho link to restore their personal power and dignity.


日本の若い人たちにとって、芭蕉は「人間味のない人」とか「侘びさびの詩人」 だと思われますが、さらに現代の問題とは無関係だと いう常識にもかかわらず、 けれど今日の日本を悩ませている問題の核心をつくような芭蕉の付句が有ります。 下女たちが台所のかまどの周りで働いているところです。曲水は、自分たちのグル ープに入らろうとしない子に、団結したらすごいのだという10代の女の子にあり がちな陰険な残酷さを描いています。「さいばり」は、「才能をひけらかす者」で、 あまり才能がないのに専門家のようにふるまう。

 

芭蕉はその女の子がかまどの燃え かすが着物の裾に穴をあけてしまいそうなときに、単純明快な行動ですぐに消すと いう問題への身体的な反応に点を当てています。その子は燃えかすぐらいでは、大 騒ぎもしないし、文句も言わないし、怒りもしません。ただ親指と人差し指でつぶ してしまうだけです。燃えかすはちっぽけで、彼女はすごく大きいのです。私は芭 蕉が「心構え」と呼ばれているものについて行っていると思うのです。そのいじめ られている女の子は あきらめも屈しもしないし、やり返そうと必死にもなりませ ん。冷静で落ち着いたその心構えで、ただ「もみ消す」のです。

 

 

いじめ対策のウェブサイトであるバイスタンダーレボリューションからのこのヒントは、芭蕉のスタンザとリンクしているかもしれません。
時々あなたが必要とするのは10秒の勇気だけです。 言う必要があることを言うとき、あなたがどれほど気分が良くなるか想像してみてください。 深呼吸して、心の中にあることを言ってください。

 

いじめの犠牲者を擁護することでよく知られているデミ・ロヴァートは、次 のように述べています。

 

「自信を持っている女性は、男性や他の女性を問わ ず、だれにでもごちゃごちゃ話したり、彼らの尊厳を損なう事をしないでく ださい。彼らは彼らが誰であるか、欠陥、そしてすべてであるために自己同 一性について自分の選択をします。誰かにあなたを壊させないでください。」

 

いじめられている少女と女性がこの芭蕉の付句を使って、個人の力と尊厳を 取り戻すことができますように祈ります。                                              

                                              

 Basho wrote hundreds of poems about women and children,

about friendship, love, and compassion,

possibly the most pro-female, child-centered,

and life-affirming works in world literature.  

 

女性と子供達、友人や愛や同情をかんじて、

何百もの句を残し心暖かい芭蕉を広く公開しましょう。

最高の女性の味方、子供目線、そして人生の応援歌ではないでしょうか

For a menu of 300 Basho articles, see

www.basho4humanity.com/topic-description.php?ID=1525955995

 

For the entire series of Bilingual Essays, see

www.basho4humanity.com/topic-category.php?Cat=15

 

For “Letters from Basho” including translation of 60 letters, see

www.basho4humanity.com/topic-category.php?Cat=14

 

For Basho’s ultimate masterpiece, the tanka SPRING PASSES BY, see

www.basho4humanity.com/topic-description.php?ID=1525958016

 

Feedback will be greatly appreciated:

basho4humanity@gmail.com






<< Coins Held in Her Hand (Renku) (H-07) (H-09) Married to a Thief >>


The Three Thirds of Basho

 

 

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.

 

basho4humanity@gmail.com
Basho's thoughts on...

• Woman Central
• Introduction to this site
• The Human Story:
• Praise for Women
• Love and Sex in Basho
• Children and Teens
• Humanity and Friendship
• On Translating Basho
• Basho Himself
• Poetry and Music
• The Physical Body
• Food, Drink, and Fire
• Animals in Basho
• Space and Time
• Letters Year by Year
• Bilingual Basho 日本語も
• 芭蕉について日本語の論文
• Basho Tsukeku 芭蕉付句
• BAMHAY (Basho Amazes Me! How About You?)
• New Articles


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.



Basho Spoken Word


Only this, apply your heart
to what children do


"The attachment to Oldness
is the very worst disease
a poet can have."


“The skillful have a disease;
let a three-foot child
get the poem"


"Be sick and tired
of yesterday’s self."


"This is the path of a fresh
lively taste with aliveness
in both heart and words."
.

"In poetry is a realm
which cannot be taught.
You must pass through it
yourself. Some poets have made
no effort to pass through, merely
counting things and trying
to remember them.
There was no passing
through the things."


"In verses of other poets,
there is too much making
and the heart’s
immediacy is lost.
What is made from
the heart is good;
the product of words
shall not be preferred."


"We can live without poetry,
yet without harmonizing
with the world’s feeling
and passing not through
human feeling, a person
cannot be fulfilled. Also,
without good friends,
this would be difficult."


"Poetry benefits
from the realization
of ordinary words."


"Many of my followers
write haiku equal to mine,
however in renku is the
bone marrow of this old man."


"Your following stanza
should suit the previous one as an expression
of the same heart's connection."


"Link verses the way
children play."


"Make renku
ride the Energy.
Get the timing wrong,
you ruin the rhythm."


"The physical form
first of all must be graceful
then a musical quality
makes a superior verse."

"As the years passed
by to half a century.
asleep I hovered
among morning clouds
and evening dusk,
awake I was astonished
at the voices of mountain
streams and wild birds."


“These flies sure enjoy
having an unexpected
sick person.”



Haiku of Humanity


Drunk on sake
woman wearing haori
puts in a sword


Night in spring
one hidden in mystery
temple corner


Wrapping rice cake
with one hands she tucks
hair behind ear


On Life's journey
plowing a small field
going and returning


Child of poverty
hulling rice, pauses to
look at the moon


Tone so clear
the Big Dipper resounds
her mallet


Huddling
under the futon, cold
horrible night


Jar cracks
with the ice at night
awakening



Basho Renku
Masterpieces

With her needle
in autumn she manages
to make ends meet
Daughter playing koto
reaches age seven


After the years
of grieving. . . finally
past eighteen
Day and night dreams of
Father in that battle


Now to this brothel
my body has been sold
Can I trust you
with a letter I wrote,
mirror polisher?


Only my face
by rice-seedling mud
is not soiled
Breastfeeding on my lap
what dreams do you see?



Single renku stanzas


Giving birth to
love in the world, she
adorns herself



Autumn wind
saying not a word
child in tears


Among women
one allowed to lead
them in chorus


Easing in
her slender forearm
for his pillow


Two death poems:


On a journey taken ill
dreams on withered fields
wander about

Clear cascade -
into the ripples fall
green pine needles




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