Haikai of Truth Basho

The Truth of haikaiAuthor(s): William Ritchie WilsonSource: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 26, No. 1/2 (1971), pp. 49-53Published by: Sophia UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2383606 .

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Th e Truth of haikai1 by WILLIAM RITCHIE WILSON T ' NHE CHARACTER read makoto which I have translated as 'truth' can also be

translated in one range as 'sincerity', 'fidelity', 'true-heartedness'. In its sense as 'truth', it can also be 'reality', 'honesty', 'genuineness'. Basho, the first great

master of the haikai or haiku, held that true examples of these poems had this quality, and it seems he meant this in all its senses.

Basha lived from I644 to I694, and was a haikai master from his thirty-fifth year. His own work is found mainly in the collections of his poems and in poetic prose such as his poetic travel accounts. After his death, however, certain works in the genre known as bairon, discussions or treatises on the theory, practice, and aesthetics ofhaikai in accordance with the teachings of Bash5 and often in his words, began to appear. These wvere compiled by disciples of Basho's school, and it is from these I have taken selections to illustrate Basha's thinking about truth in baikai. The two works I have used are the SanzJsbi and KyoraishJ.2 The first, in three volumes known respectively as AkasJshi, Shirososhi, and Wasuremizu or Kurosjshi,3 was compiled in I703 and published in print in I776. Its com- piler was a contemporary of Basha, one Hattori Doh5,4 prominent in baikai circles in Iga, who lived from I657 to I730. Kyoraisho, by Mukai Kyorai5 who lived from I65I to I704, centers on talk about haikai between the Master and his disciples. It was written about I704 and published in I775.

THE AUTHOR is Assistant Professor in the De- partment of Asian Studies, University of Southern California.

1 Haikai no makoto *tWO)S. I am indebted for the selection of these five passages to a section with the same title in Takeda Sukeyoshi and Hi- samatsu Sen'ichi A E itt, Xt~ 3-, eds. Koto gakk6 koten 3 A 4 * Wt 3, Kadokawa Shoten, i96i.The text used for translation, however, is vol. 66 of the Nihon koten bungaku taikei 1 *Wt

2k A, (hereafter referred to as NKBJT 66). This volume, with commentary and annotation by Kida Saizo *A 4tZ A and Imoto Noichi *4 A-, is titled Rengaronshi haironshg it N, Iwanami, I96I. The commentary is mine, but I have been stimulated by Makoto Ueda's

discussion of Basha in his Literary and Art Theories in 7apan, Western Reserve University Press, Cleveland, i967, and Zeami, Basho, Teats, Pound; a study in 7apanese and English poetics, Mouton, The Hague, I965.

2 = fi v/-

3 Soshi, a term which may also be rendered simply in kana or as 4 fX, implies a book made by binding letters or papers together; also it is a generic term for works in kana such as poetic writings, old tales, diaries, and miscellanies. Here the titles mean Red SJshi 4 k tk, WYhite Soshi A f , Forgotten WYater or Black Soshi (last in kana).

4 4AV-*L 5 T63

MN: XXVI, I-2 D



50 Monumenta Nipponica, XXVI, I-2

The first is from the Shirososhi:

Chinese poems, tanka, linked verse, and haikai, together are the way of poetry. The first three leave something over, and to the very limits of what they leave over, there is no point that haikai do not reach. Through 'the nightingale who sings in the flowers', with, 'on the verandah's edge drops dung on the rice cakes', we perceive this New Year time still more amusingly; and again, through the frog who lives in the water, setting it free in saying 'The sound of water when he jumps into the ancient pond,' we hear a haikai in the noise when the frog goes in from the shaggy midst of grass. It lies in seeing; it lies in hearing. As soon as the poet perceives something, it becomes a poem-this is the truth of baikai.6 (SanzJshi: ShirosJshi)

Here Bash5 notes that earlier poetic forms do not reach the limits of poetic potentiality, but haikai do. In expanding on this he lifts examples from the Prologue to Kokinshbi, the first Imperial Anthology: 'When we hear the nightingale who sings in the flowers, and the voice of the frog who lives in the water', but perceives them in contexts unfettered by the conventions of earlier forms. The important thing is what the poet perceives with his own, no other's, eyes and ears-what moves him becomes a poem-and it is a poem immediately. This is the truth of haikai.

The foregoing, then, puts a premium on freshness and inspiration. Moreover, it is inspiration received through the physical senses. Its general tenor reinforces a paraphrase used elsewhere by Basho, 'Don't try for what the men of old left behind; try for what they wvere trying to achieve.'7

The second selection is from AkasJshi.

'What pertains to the pine tree, learn from the pine tree; what pertains to the bamboo, learn from the bamboo.' The tenor of these words of the Master is: free yourself from personal interpretation, from subjective outlook. As to this point of 'learn from the object', if one interprets things as one pleases, one will in the end not learn at all. Saying 'Learn!' is a matter of looking deep and entering into the object, and as soon as its subtle life is revealed and one feels its inner nature, it becomes a poetic passage. Though what one says may spring from the externals of a thing, if it is not the sentiment which rises naturally from that thing, the object and oneself become two-they are split-and the sentiment does not reach

6 NKBT 66, p. 384. 7 From haibun ,47V titled Saimon noji 9 rl X X

(WVords by a Brush Gate), given by Basho to his dis- ciple Kyoroku S -' on the latter's departure for his native place in I693. The words are Kojin no ato wo motomezu, kojin no motometaru tokoro wo moto-

meyo. He attributes them to Kiikai, the founder of Shingon Buddhism in Japan, referring to calli- graphy (the Way of the Brush). NKBT 46, Basho bunshb ; t, haibun 62, p. 206. See also Tsunoda, De Bary, Keene, Sources of 7apanese Tradition I, Columbia, 1966, p. 450.



W I L S O N, 'Truth of haikai'

truth. Such is the skewed design which personal interpretation produces.8 CSanzishi: Akas5sbi)

The burden of this passage reinforces the point of the first-the requirement for genuineness in perception, for sincerity and objectivity. The capacity for expressing a perception in words is a measure of true insight. But first the poet must identify himself with his materials. Truth lies in freeing one's poems of self-in self-effacement in one's approach.

The third selection is from the volume of Kyoraisbh known as SbugyJkyJ (Precepts for Poetic Practice).9 Kyorai is the writer.

Kyorai said: Our Former Master set no limitations on his words when he taught disciples of his school. When he expounded to me, it was, 'One need not put so much effort into every poem. Again, one should write each poem concretely, not abstractly, and bring out the haikai element clearly.' Again, to Bonch510 it was, 'One poem has merely seventeen kana characters. One must not place even one without due care. After all, even haikai are one form ofJapanese poetry. One must make them so that in each poem there is pliancy in expression.' All this was ac- cording to the nature of the mind and the expressive capacity of each poet. For those who understood poorly, it was a path from which they might well stray. In our school those who were bewildered about it were many. The Former Master said, 'As for bokku,l" one considers those which come spoken down smoothly from the head to be of the highest quality.' The Former Master, teaching Shad6,12 said, 'Hokku are not things in which one simply gathers together two or three items as you do. They have to be like beating out gold into leaf.' The Former Master said, 'Hokku come into being when one composes one's materials. One calls skilful those who compose well; unskilful those who are bad at it.' Kyoroku said, 'Hokku are compositions. About this the Former Master said, "People don't realize that they are things in which this much literary talent is involved." ' Kyorai said, 'Creating through composing, verses are many and their reciting is glib. Be- ginners must bear all this in mind, but when one reaches the point of becoming an adept, the question of composing or not composing is no longer the problem.'13 CKyoraishb: Shugy&kyj9

This passage points out that one has to learn to create baikai. To different students, different principles have to be emphasized. It is not enough simply to perceive-one

8 NKBT 66, p. 398. 9 ol ITa 10 A t

11 Hokku *, are the first ku of linked verse, which, when existing separately, are haiku of

seventeen syllables. Note the flexibility in reference to this form.

12 ,i 13 NKBT 66, p. 364.



52 Monumenta Nipponica, XXVI, I-2

must put the perception in words. For Kyorai, the Master's emphasis is on content: the poem must not fall into intellectualizing; it must have the genuine elements character- istic of the haikai. For Boncho the emphasis is on structure: pliancy implies flexibility, which is not only its first meaning, but also the idea of several levels of meaning achieved by ambiguity of wording. There is also a matter of content here, or perhaps diction, for the word for 'pliancy'-shiori-also suggests sadness. Finally, the point is made that while hokku are turned out quickly by the skilful when inspired, they are, in fact, composed in accordance with principles. Such composition, it is suggested, is essential to their truth.

The next selection is also from Kyorai, the volume known as Criticisms by the Former Master14 (that is, Basho).

7idaraku ni When one lies Nereba suzushiki Sloppy, clothes loosened, Lube ka na. Cool evening!

When Saruminol5 was being compiled, Soji, asking to have one of his poems put in, came and recited several poems, but none could be accepted. One evening the Former Master said, 'Well now, make yourself comfortable. I'll lie down, too.' On this Soji said, 'Please allow me. When I relax with clothes loose, I'm cool.' The Former Master said, 'This is a bokku,' and having made the poem above, he said, 'Put it in the collection.'6 CKyoraisbJ: Sensbibyo)

This little episode is illustrative of the idea of truth or genuineness in hokku. We may guess that Soji's poems which Basho would not accept were obviously contrived; he had neither the gift of perception nor the talent to transform it into words. But suddenly, by accident, he reveals a perception, which, except for a few syllabic adjustments, is a hokku. Bash6 immediately recognizes it, and S6ji,17 about whom nothing else is known, is memorialized. Another aspect of haikai pointed up again here is the value given to genuineness of expression of feeling, without regard to the traditional poetic conventions of diction which regulated the 'serious' poetry of earlier periods.

The final selection is from the same source as the previous one.

Iwabanaya Among the rock-heads Koko ni mo bitori Here also a lone chanter Tsuki no kyaku Guest of the moon [Kyorai].

When the Former Master went to the capital, Kyorai said to him, 'Shada spoke this poem as "monkey beneath the moon", but I said "guest" was better. How did I do?' The Former Master said, 'What sort of thing is it to say "monkey?"

14 Senshiby5 7X$G 15 Sarumino M , a collection of haiku in six

volumes and two books compiled by Kyorai

and Boncho, is dated I69I. 16 NKBT 66, p. 38. 17 ,-- ;



W I L S O N, 'Truth of haikai' 5 3

What were you thinking of when you made this poem?' Kyorai said, 'As I was walking about a mountain wilderness reciting poetry under a bright moon, I saw the rock-heads and also a lone poet chanting.' The Former Master said, 'When one puts it "Here also a lone chanter, guest of the moon," how graceful is this revelation of oneself! One could only make it a self-revealing poem. I too value this poem highly, and will write it into my collection Oi no Kobumi.'18 My poetic intention was inferior to this by two or three levels. When I looked at it with the idea of the Former Master, perhaps there was in it also some flavor of a crazed poet. Separate note: on thinking about it after I left, when I looked at it as a self- disclosing poem, a vision of a person in a poetic delirium floated up in it, and I considered this ten times better than my first design. In all truth, the poet did not know his own heart.19 CKyoraishb: SenshibyJ9

Here we have three approaches to truth in haikai. All three are in terms of an imaginary scene, typical of poetic themes of Sung ink painting: towering rock-pillars, and among them a tiny figure, lone in the moonlight. For Shada, the figure is that of a monkey. Per- haps the picture is a satire: the monkey represents a poet. Kyorai says the figure is a sjkaku;20 as Kyorai was walking about in the mountains poeticizing under a bright moon, he saw the rock-heads, then this lone romantic by them. The characters in this word literally mean 'boisterous or noisy guest', although the compound designates one who is addicted to the elegant and graceful, a poet. It has additional overtones, however, of such a person in the act of poetry, intoxicated as a guest at a party, singing out his verses. Here he is the only guest, the moon is host. Basha has an insight: he instantly perceives that Kyorai is describing himself He values the poem because of the genuineness of the vision. Kyorai was actually doing more than objectively describing a picture-he himself was the figure in the dream-landscape, delirious with poetry. Although Basho had to point this out to him, the truth of the perception lay in Kyorai's identification with the poet, mad in praise of the moon.

Philosophy is a system of generalizations about the human mind in terms of abstrac- tions. Yet man's life in the universe cannot be intellectually generalized into a philosophic system-it is always changing. Haikai are man's perceptions of the universe, himself as part of it, and all aspects of this relationship. Each perception presents one concrete possibility-reality is concrete-within an unknowable generalization, in terms of image or metaphor. Others may exist within it, it may be ambiguous, but life also is ambiguous. Though man cannot know the ultimate truth about nature and his place in it, he can perceive aspects of it in tranquillity, and embody these in haikai.

18 )j X>A , evidently a collection of superior poems planned, but never completed; different from a travel haibun of the same title.

19 NKBT 66, p. 3 I4. See also Tsunoda et al., Op. Cit. p. 455.

20O



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