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.
In Chapter V of the Tale of Genji, the young Genji kidnaps 9-year-old Murasaki to raise her in seclusion and nurture her to become the love of his life when she matured. In Chapter IX, after his wife Aoi dies from childbirth, one night he finally rapes Murasaki.
Now he could not restrain himself. It would be a shock, of course.
What had happened? Her women had no way of knowing when the line
had been crossed. One morning Genji was up early and Murasaki stayed on and on in bed. It was not at all like her to sleep so late. Might she be unwell?
…She had not dreamed he had anything of the sort on his mind.
What a fool she had been, to repose her whole confidence in so gross and unscrupulous a man. Almost noon when Genji returned: “They say you’re not feeling well.
What can be the trouble? I was hoping for a game of Go.” She pulled the covers over her head.
Her women discreetly withdrew. He came up beside her. “What a way to behave, what a very unpleasant way to behave. Try to imagine, please, what these women are thinking.”
He drew back the covers. She was bathed in perspiration and the hair at her forehead was matted from weeping.
Finally, to make the teenage girl feel better, Genji has his retainer give her inoko no mochi,
rice cakes sweetened for children and colored to look like cute little baby boars – although the
text does not say whether the “child” Murasaki felt any improvement. Later on:
She now refused to look at him, and his jokes only sent her into a more sullen silence.
In 1689 Doho begins and Basho follows:
Woman with a cough behind door of weeds
Upon leaving, Sweet baby-boar mochi he gives to her
女咳たる / 藪の戸の内
きぬぎぬの / 亥の子の餅を / 配るとて
Onna sekitaru / yabu no to no uchi
Kinu ginu no / inokono mochi o / kubaru tote
Woman lives in sickness and poverty. Man visits her, relieves his sexual tension inside her,
then goes back to his world. Before he leaves, he gives her the mochi cakes Genj gave to teenage Murasaki to cheer her up. How shall we interpret this?
First consider the Japanese male scholar’s view; they see the scene in the Tale as Genji and Murasaki’s “bridal bed” which the gift of baby-boar mochi “celebrates.” Eventually Murasaki gets over her misery from being raped, and comes to accept the luxury the wealthy Genji provides. So her misery and hatred of him was just a phase a girl has to go through, part of growing up to fit herself into the patriarchal world.
Modern women and some men as well may see it differently. Genji raped the teenager, destroyed her
innocence, then to further insult her integrity, gave her some sweets. The man in Basho’s stanza does nothing to relieve her cough or her poverty; he gives her the cakes so he will feel better about being such a shithead.
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.
