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.
The Shogun Yoritomo sent warriors to kill his younger brother Yoshitsune, but they could not find him, so instead they took Yoshitsune’s mistress, the dancing girl Shizuka, and brought her to Kamakura to dance for the arrogant Shogun. Beneath her eyelids overflow the stars Forced to stand against her will, she dances so delicately Starlight shines from Shizuka’s tears as she struggles to hold them back in defiance of that bastard Yoritomo. Basho continues with a remarkably active, motionful stanza： Yoritomo holding all the power roughly yanks Shizuka to a stance and demands that she, his pawn, renounce her love for Yoshitsune. But then Shizuka mocks him by dancing superbly, showing him that his violence did not upset her spirit one whit, and along with her dance, she dares to sing of her love for Yoshitsune, which infuriates Yoritomo so wants to kill her. She stands up to his patriarchy, dancing for love, dancing for the dignity of women. Shizuka’s confrontation of Yoritomo brings to mind Emilia, in Shakespeare’s play Othello, boldly accusing her husband Iago of deceiving Othello. Iago： What, are you mad? I charge you, get you home. Emilia：. 'Tis proper I obey him, but not now. Perchance, Iago, I will ne'er go home. She realizes her insistence on telling the truth can only lead to him killing her; she could forswear the truth to stay alive and go home, but she presses onward with stupendous moral courage until Iago stabs her and runs away. She dies, honoring the truth. May the female power, the adherence to the truth, in these images of Shizuka and Emilia be resources for you today to empower yourselves.
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.
