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.
for many more see https://www.basho4humanity.com/topic-category.php?Cat=4
A single renku stanza, without the baggage of the previous stanza or the very different baggage of the following stanza, can apply to a wide range of circumstances: For instance, this stanza by Basho:
Easing in her slender forearm for his pillow
手枕に / ほそき腕を /さし入れて Ta-makura ni / hosoki kaina o / sashi-irete
Lying in bed beside him, carefully maneuvering her arm under his head without waking him, gazing at his face attentive to any signs of waking, such is her delicacy, her devotion to touching him and being around him with fineness and sensitivity. EASING IN, by itself, can portray a woman with her lover, but
we can also see a mother lying with her beloved child – and the verse is especially poignant if the child is sick or injured. We can use Basho’s words as tools to reach inside our own hearts.
Higashi Akimasa in his book 芭蕉の愛句, Basho no Aiku, “The Love Poetry of Basho,” notes the sensuality in this stanza comes not from the words about the body – “her slender forearm” – but rather from the unspoken suggestion of “the form of woman’s body in the bedroom.” Higashi says
This is a truly sensual love-stanza. Looking back over the history of Japanese tanka and renku,
so daring a love verse is unusual, however should we not be a little surprised that the author
was Basho said to be a paragon of wabi and sabi?”
Higashi does not answer his rhetorical question, however I will. The notion that Basho is a “paragon of wabi and sabi” (desolate loneliness) is an illusion, based on a narrow selection of impersonal and lonely haiku. Once we broaden our selection to include his linked verses, we find him to be a paragon of romance, passion, and physical sensuality.
Basho’s stanza together with the stanza by Sora which came before has more limited and specific meanings.
Summonned to the palace ashamed by the gossip
Easing in her slender forearm for his pillow
宮にめされし/ うき名はずかし 手枕に / ほそき腕を / さし入れて Miya ni mesareshi / Uki na hazukashi Ta-makura ni / hosoki kaina o / sashi-irete
Sora portrays the rivalries among court ladies at the Imperial Palace – as in The Tale of Genji where
a young woman, Kiritusbo, “summoned” by the Emperor, becomes his favorite and bears him a son, the “Shining Prince” Genji. Other court ladies, led by his senior consort, spread rumors about Kiritsubo; being women themselves, they know exactly how to shame a young woman, and she eventually sickens and dies.
Basho, however, aims for life, not death. In spite of the gossip about her and the shame it brings her,
the woman in EASING IN manages to love the Emperor with all the gentleness in her heart. Basho’s stanza coming from Sora’s empowers women to overcome bullying and shame by concentrating on their feminine
power both delicate and sensual.
Even though we know Sora's stanza, we can "ride the Energy" of Basho's stanza to a place that has nothing to do with the Tale of Genji. This is the freedom of renku. We can take Basho's stanza wherever we want.
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.
