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.
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
With her needle in autumn she manages to make ends meet
Daughter playing koto
reaches age seven
Basho Renku Zenchuushuu, volume 4: p. 164
Commentary from Basho’s Verses of Human Feeling
芭蕉連句全注解 ４巻: １６４ 解釈は「芭蕉の人情句」から
O-hari shite / aki mo inochi no / o o tsunagi Koeki
１９ お針して / 秋も命の / 緒を繋ぎ 古益
針仕事をして細々と生計を立て、この秋もやっとのことで生活できる。
Sewing clothes for people, she manages to make a living in autumn.
Koto hiku musume / yattsu ni narikeru Bashō
２０ 琴 引 娘 / 八っになりける 芭蕉
7 歳の娘が箏を弾くのを聞いて、貧乏の母は未来への希望を感じている。
Hearing her seven-year-old daughter play the koto,
the impoverished mother feels hope for a better future.
This woman has enough work sewing clothes for people before winter comes. She may “make ends meet” in autumn, but has to survive the rest of the year. Into this poor struggling home, Basho introduces a daughter and a koto, or 13-string harp, an instrument typically played by women. Notice the link between the straight lines of needlework and strings on the harp. Both stanzas convey the diligence and constant effort of the female, the action of her hands producing order, rhythm, and beauty. The Japanese yattsu means "in her eighth year" so she is age seven. Many cultures consider this age to be the onset of wisdom and moral understanding.
Miyawaki Masahiko, in Basho’s Verses of Human Feeling, describes the human feeling this Japanese person sees in Basho’s words:
The first stanza provides the woman’s experience of an impoverished lifestyle. In the words for
“she manages to make ends meet” (inochi no o o tsunagi) is her loneliness and depression after
a long time living this way. The words “reaches age of seven” (yattsu ni narikeru) contain the deep emotions of a mother who has watched over her daughter’s growth to this age.
The daughter plays her mother’s koto here and now -- and also plays it through the months, years, decades of practice required to master the instrument. Basho praises the young girl in the early stages of her discipline. We imagine the pride the hard-working mother feels hearing her daughter produce such beauty. With utmost subtlety and grace, through the powerful effect music has on the brain, Basho portrays the bond between mother and daughter, the hope for a better future that the growing and learning girl evokes in her mother, hope rising on the lovely notes emerging from her seven year old fingers on the harp.
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
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.
