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  >  芭蕉について日本語の論文  >  J-03


重ねを賀す

女性、少女たちへの平和と希望のメッセージ

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

かさねを賀す

 

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

 

有名な紀行文「奥の細道」の中で、一六八九年の夏、 芭蕉と旅の供である曾良は栃木の草原で道に迷って しまうが、そこで親切で優しい農夫と出会い、

 

「この馬のとどまる所にて馬を帰し給へ」とその農夫が云いました。
ちいさきものふたり馬の跡したひてはしるひとりは小娘にて、
道案内に馬を貸してやろうと言う場面があります。
名を「かさね」と云う。聞なれぬ名のやさしかりけりば

 

芭蕉が馬に乗って曾良が後を歩き去っていくのを、農夫の子どもたちが二人ついてきました。

 

「かさね」は普通では名前じゃなくてパパの馬にまたがったむしろ動詞として、見知らぬおもしろいおじさんに興味を  もって…「上に次々と何層にも積みかさねる」という意味を持ちます。もっと言えば時間的側面では「連続して何度も  起こる」ということです。

 

旅人は北へ行ってそして西、そして南へと移動し、夏は終わり、秋と冬。今、時は一六九○年の桜の季節に、

芭蕉は膳所(小津市)に滞在中です。(ここ膳所は芭蕉が埋葬を望んだ場所で、この義仲寺に芭蕉は眠っています。

膳所の人が生まれたての女児の名前をつけてくれるように芭蕉にたのんだからです。

芭蕉はみちのくにいる「かさね」ちゃんを思い出し、その名前を赤ちゃんに授けたのです。

以下の俳文と短歌は「かさね」の幸せと健やかな成長の祈りです。こうした名前はまれに聞くこともなかったのに、

こんな田舎に、どうしてこんなやさしい名が伝わり残っているのであろうか。

もし自分に子があったらこの名前をつけようなどと、道連れの曾良に冗談を言ったことを思い出して、

今度、思いがけない縁で名付親となったので、この「かさね」という名をつけたのである。

芭蕉は生物学的には親になることは無かったけれども、このふしぎな機会に名前と短歌を通し命を与える。

 

かさねを賀す

 

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

 

 

いく春も、いく春も、年を重ね、美しく成人して、春の花見のころにはかさねがさねの花ごろも

しはよるまでの老もみるべくばせを重ねる、 ②着物と裏地、襦袢じゅばんの層を重ねる、③桜の木の下でもう一度楽しい花見を重ねる、④陸奥の少女から琵琶湖の赤ちゃんへと名前を伝える、⑤おしゃれな着物とすべすべ肌への少女たちの好み,⑥女性が年を重ねて着物が派手な色から地味に変化する、⑦明るい若向けの着物が次の層、つまり娘へと受け継がれて 重ねられる、⑧着物のしわと顔のしわ、 さいごにこれらがすべて平和の中で代々続くようにとの望みもです。。

 

正式な着物は肌着である長襦袢ながじゅばんの上に重ね着する二層の絹の衣で、きめ細やかに折り目と襞をとり、

その層でさえも体に均一に巻きつけられます。

 

さあ「かさね」、君の時代の始まりだ。目の前には 無限の世界が広がっている。争いもなく、災害にも 金銭的な損害や病気にも見舞われたりしなければ、 もうすぐ、日光のもとで笑ったり遊んだりするだろう。ある春、乙女になった「かさね」は一年に一度の花見のためだけに初めて花ごろもを着せてもらい、そして それは次の桜の季節までまた折りたたんでしまわれて おくのだ。

 

春が来て、木のてっぺんを一面桜の花で満開にし、 花びらを降らせながら春は過ぎ、そして君は完璧な 重ねの衣を着て優雅なお嬢さんとして花開く。毎年 花見の時には藁敷きの上に正座をして座るから、着物 にはしわがよるだろう。気をつけるのだよ、お母さんが見せたようにその滑らかな絹の肌触りをまた来年の ために大切にしまいなさい。私はこの晴れ着を君の娘に手渡す日のために祈ろう、そしてその頃、君はもっと 落ち着いた色と柄を身につけるだろう。そして、これもまた娘に受け継がれ、君は年老いて暗い地味な色を着るのだ。

 

だから「かさね」、願わくは世の中が平穏無事で、着物がもはや滑らかではなくしわまみれになり、君もまた

しわくちゃの老女になるまで家族が幸せでいられるように。我が娘「かさね」よ、どうか希望を失わないで。

春が何度も過ぎていくように命は繰り返し、君の孫娘たちがまた花ごろもを着て、笑っておしゃべりするのだ。

幾人かの男性の研究者はこの作品を知ってはいるが、

 

俳文「重ねを賀す」と短歌「行く春を」は小さな女の子たちに希望、つまり無事な子供時代を過ごした少女から女性へと成長していき、孫が見られるという希望を与えます。しかし、この希望のメッセージは隅で埃にまみれていたのです。 いくつかの芭蕉の全集、(例えば日本古典文学 全集71巻284~5ページ)にはその短歌が 載っていますが、600ページの中に埋もれて しまって、誰も気がつきません。三○年前に膨大な芭蕉の全集の中から「重ねを賀す」を見つけてから、日本語、英語両方の俳句や芭蕉の日本文学の本を 探してみましたが、この作品についてほぼ何も触れられていないということが分かりました。

 

         basho4humanity@gmail.com 





<< 新潟からの遊女 (J-02 ) (J-04 ) 芭蕉から 羽紅婦人宛の 手紙二通 >>


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