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  >  Basho Tsukeku 芭蕉付句  >  K-12


Verses Only: Tsukeku 2

Renku written between 1678 and 1681

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

"It would be good for you to see from practice that your following stanza suits the previous one as an expression of the same heart’s connection."

 

Basho told Doho, with remarkable clarity and succinctness, the nature of his mastery of linking verses.

 

                                        -------------------------------

To embroider
she prefers the threads
of a cascade
Otowa Falls in the wind                                   2: 26
Princess goes to a pine

 


Superior one,                                          2: 39
forget not the hard times
use them well
Fancy hairstyle tied up
with ornamental comb
Getting married –                                  2: 39
second time, returning (    )
to avoid trouble

 

 

 

From the brothel                     2:47
moon among the clouds
returns home
The form of a virgin
her white satin obi

 

 

Lovers speak
hesitantly as firefly
crawls out robe
Along with the Buddha                                      2: 58
short night in a dream

 

 

 

Droplets from
the spear of Bishamon
autumn in our land
The heads of heathen                                      2: 63
descend with the moon

 

 

As naked seeds
blossoms now return
to their roots
Bath water bottom                                           2: 71
dragon palace spring
Roadhouse hooker
or Sea-God’s daughter,
which is she?
Age of the Gods unheard
love for a hundred coins
Bowing with respect                                          2: 72
to that precious treasure,
the Pillow Book

 

 

Her long sleeves’                                                 2: 75
fine silk, yet beard
is being born

The fate of Komachi

to female-impersonate 

 

 

 

Storehouses and fences
overgrown with water weeds
Seen by morning,                                     2:84
woman who stayed the night,
Goddess of Poverty

 

 

 

To join with a widow,
he pounds robe of love
Man who left                                                  2:91
cared only for money,
autumn passes

 

 

 

His old haori jacket
makes the young look old
Soundly, so soundly                                         2:101
the babe in remembrance
is put to sleep

 

 

 

“Weak as green willow”                               2: 139
the wife is despised
‘Path of blood’
her day by day misery
in the spring rain
She drops a tea bag                                         2: 139
in steam from her chest

 

 

How many moons                      2: 149
shall young pines be hidden
in your belly
Asking the servant girl
beside the cliff, no reply
Spring water flows                                      2: 149
on the shore, will you stand
against the current?

 

 

 

 

Since Ki no Tsurayuki
the moon at daybreak
Eight hundred years                                   2: 169
the light of his lantern
surviving the dew

 

 

 

Once again he is thrown
Maruyama marked black
Half of go board                                     2: 176
all over eastern Kyoto
blossoms scatter

 

 

The warriors’
sword exhibition
gets violent
Woman soon cry out
so they are banished
Appearance                                                  2:200
warped by a mirror,
her resentment

 

 

 

Miracles from                                          2: 210
offerings to the Goddess
shining on blossoms
Bird of good fortune
builds nest with hemp

 

 

 

On the stage forlorn cry
from a humble cottage,
Without virtue
loud squeal of surprise
at the scene
A dog being stabbed                                     2: 214
that voice is so sad

 

 

Where is the storm?
curtain room shivers
The woman’s shadow                                        2: 215
seems to have returned –
awesome her traces

 

 

 

The Mouse and the Ox
entrusted to the Tiger
Chaos rides                                                         2: 217
on Green to play with
the Energy 

 

 

 

Wretched in the dew                                            2: 221
my wife’s fallen hair
Speaking of love,
in the mirror her face
still I can see

 

 

Engulfed by passion
to kill younger brother
Sound deepens,                                              2: 243                 
the pine wood door
he pries open

 

 

In a daydream
boiling rice until
evening comes
No concern for others                                    2: 253
just waiting to die

 

 

 

Are these pines                                              2: 259
on Love Cape the daughter’s
wedding ornament?
Vows for life remaining
snow shines to the divine

 

 

In the summer of 1681, Basho wrote a letter to his follower Biji containing five points of advice on how to express in poetry. Here are four of them. Basho repeatedly rejects “oldness” in favor of “newness” (although he does not use that word until 1686)

 

When a following stanza completely fits the previous one,
we can say this is the old style or the somewhat old style

 

 

 

Without a sense for ordinary words as precious,
you will get mixed up in an old style.

 

 

 

An elaborately constructed verse is useless.

 

 

 

A verse may have extra sound-units, three, four, or even five or seven;     if the rhythm of the phrase coming out your mouth is natural, it is okay – however if even one sound stagnates in your mouth, you must scrutinize the expression.

 

 

The aged nun has
a story to tell us
Filled with pity,                                                      2:261
her message to rescue
abandoned child
A deer pulls the sleeve
of someone in the village

 

 

… the following stanza suits the previous one
as an expression of the same heart’s connection...

 

basho4humanity@gmail.com

 






<< Verses Only: Tsukeku Section 1 (K-11) (K-13) Verses Only: Tsukeku Section 3 >>


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