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.
Vulgar words to insult / the wife and daughter / All the guests / sit there cold, freezing / at the kotatsu
嫁とむすめに / わる口をこく / 客は皆 /さむくてこおる / 火燵の間
Vulgar words to insult the wife and daughter
All the guests sit there cold, freezing at the kotatsu
Complete Basho Renku Interpretations: vol. 10. p. ９5
芭蕉連句全註解 １０巻、p。９５
Yome to musume ni / waruguchi o toku Shiko
嫁と むすめに / わる口をこく 支
A man insults his wife and daughter with vulgar words.
男性が妻と娘を侮辱する下品な言葉言う
Kyaku wa mina / samukute kooru / kotatsu no ma Basho
客は皆 /さむくてこおる / 火燵の間 芭蕉
The guests sitting at the warm kotatsu are cold and freezing
すべてのゲストそこに座って冷たく凍るこたつで
Father insults his wife and daughter with the most horrible humiliating words. Feminist historian Akiko Tokuza says (in Basho’s time) “criticism of women’s intelligence, autonomy, and moral worth was essential to the total subordination of women that society demanded.” In a patriarchal society, abuse of women is so commonplace no one pays attention to it; Shiko, though he is a Japanese man, does pay attention – however his image of oppression occurs in a vacuum, without context. Basho fulfills that image with an environment and circumstances that make the oppression real.
A kotatsu, a low table with a heater (charcoal in Basho’s time, electric in ours) and blanket to hold the warmth around the legs and hips, seats four; here father with three male friends. His wife and daughter prepare or serve food and drink to father and his guests. Father (probably drunk) insults the females even when visitors are over; the guests, shocked by his words and tone so inappropriate to a Japanese social occasion, feel “cold, freezing” even sitting at a warm kotatsu.We imagine how much worse father’s abuse becomes when no guests are present.
The art of linked verse is creative not only by the poets but also by the readers.We can take the images the two poets provide, and go with them in imagination:we may wonder about the wife and daughter when Father is away: how do they support each other to endure in this family and society?Let us take the warmth of the kotatsu from Basho’s verse, and add that warmth to the bond between these two females.
Basho wrote hundreds of poems about women and children,
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.
