An open mind
is the gateway to heaven.
                      soji                                  





What follows are interpretations of Basho's works by
three editors and translators, three gentlemen that would
seem to have the qualifications for the task; R.H.Blyth, 
Lucien Stryck, and Peter Beilenson. There are also some 
comments by a fourth,Kenneth Rexroth.

I began putting together this list as a means to clarify,
for myself, what this lovely art form is all about. Opinions
seem to vary wildly about just what constitutes haiku. There
doesn't seem to be any "concrete" answers. Mr. Rexroth points
out, however, in the preface to "One Hundred Poems from the
Japanese" that "the Japanese language is almost as rich in
homonyms and ordinary double meanings as is Chinese" and 
there are engo, "associated words rising from the same
 concept,occupy a position between our similes and metaphors...".
He further speaks of the kake kotoba, a pivot word
employed in two senses, even three on rare occasions. 
Rexroth makes the statement that "The pivot word shades into
the pun, and some Japanese poems have so many puns that 
they may have two or more quite dissimilar meaning." I have
also read that the kigo or "season word" is also a 
metaphor (there's that word again) for the stages of our
lives. I guess my point is, if I have to have one, that an
absolute statement as to the correct way to write haiku
would be practically impossible. I found some of all three
of the following interpretations to my liking. Mr. Beilenson
attempts to stick with the 5-7-5 format, occassionally
to the poems detriment. Stryck on the other hand seems very
Spartan in his translations, and in the book his poems are 
taken from, "On Love and Barley - Haiku of Basho" one of
Basho's poems seems to have two interpretations, it is 
appended to the list below.









R.H. Blyth 

 

1a 

Moonlight slants through 

The vast bamboo grove: 

A cuckoo cries 
2a

Ah, summer grasses!

All that remains

Of the warriors dreams.
3a

Along this road

Goes no one;

This autumn evening.
4a

From time to time

The clouds give rest

To the moon beholders..
5a

The butterfly is perfuming

It's wings in the scent

Of the orchid.
6a

Yes, spring has come

This morning a nameless hill

Is shrouded in mist.
7a

It is deep autumn

My neighbor

How does he live, I wonder.
8a

The old pond

A frog jumps in

The sound of water.

 



Stryck

  

1b

From moon wreathed

bamboo grove,

cuckoo song.
2b

Summer grasses

all that remains 

of soldiers dreams.
3b

Not one traveller

braves this road - 

autumn night.
4b

Clouds - 

a chance to dodge

moonviewing.
5b

Orchid breathing

incense into

butterfly wings.
6b

Spring - through

morning mist

what mountains there?
7b

Autumns end

how does my

neighbour live?
8b

Old pond

leap - splash

a frog.

 



Beilenson

 


1c

Moonlight slanting

through all this long bamboo grove

and nightingale song.
2c

Here where a thousand

captains swore grand conquest

Tall grasses their monument.
3c

By lonely roads

this lonely poet marches

into autumn dusk.
4c

Glorious the moon

therefore our thanks, dark clouds

come to rest our necks.
5c

Lady butterfly

perfumes wings by floating

over the orchid.
6c

Spring morning marvel

lovely nameless little hill

on a sea of mist
7c

In my dark winter

lying ill, at last I ask

how fares my neighbor
8c

Old dark sleepy pool

quick unexpected frog

goes plop! Watersplash.

 






This haiku seemingly has 2 interpretations by Stryck:
                   
  Fading bells -                          Dusk - though last
  now musky blossoms            bells faded
  peal in dusk                            airs cherry rich
 
and this one by Blyth:   

                  The temple bell dies away
                  The scent of flowers in the evening
                  Is still tolling the bell.






Basho:Gentlest Friend of Moon & Winds
A childrens story for all ages



Commentaries on
Basho's "lonely road".



Basho's own comments
on his life as a poet.


Is it Haiku?
A letter from Jane Reichold


Flower Shadows
haiku by soji



Haiku Festival
Haiku by todays practitioners



World Wide Haiku Links



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