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.
Confucius said : “When young, do not let your future be decided by hot blood”
and here Basho shows us his awareness of consequens of young people followiing their desires.
At the end of summer in 1693, overcome by the death of his nephew Toin and the especially oppressive heat, Basho went into seclusion for a full month、refusing to go outside or allow visitors to see him. The story of Toin is so well hidden that we know almost nothing about him before he died at age 32. Because of evidence in Letters #22 and #147 to Hanzaemon, I believe it possible that 15 year old Toin committed
some “indiscretion” in Iga, maybe involving his emerging male sexuality, and had to hide out for the rest of his life in the vastpopulation of Edo where he could survive without the government knowing.
Basho was not in complete seclusion; his 15 year old grandnephew Jirobei, Toin's son or stepson, stayed with him part-time and did light cooking. With his father dead, and his adolecent hormones coming into play, Jirobei probably needed a break away from his dying mother and two younger sisters. The following section from an essay, An Explanation for the Gate Being Closed, was written during this period when Jirobei was nearby; it may have been indented for Jirobei, to help him understand his parents' sins,
so he will not reproduce them. In the first sentence,
Sexual passion was despised by Confucius,
and Buddha placed abstinence from sexual misconduct as first among his Five Precepts, however such feelings are difficult to discard for they involve much emotion.
Beneath plum blossoms on the dark mountain unknown to people, unexpectedly we may be stained by the fragrance. On a hill of deep longing, with no one to guard the gate, somehow indiscretions occur.
Many have wet their sleeves on a pillow of waves with a mermaid,
selling home and ruining life, however to torment the soul for rice or money or for the aged self to crave the future is to misjudge the pathos of existence, a far greater sin, so let us forgive the sins of lovers.
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.
