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Monthly Archives: March 2010
ABOUT LINKED VERSE (OR NOT)
Readers may have noticed that even though I teach the old “haikai” kind of hokku, I nonetheless have very little to say about the practice of linked verse (renga). That is because it has never interested me. In fact there … Continue reading
FROG WORLD
Issa wrote: Waga kado e shiranande hairu kawazu kana My gate e unknowing coming-in frog kana Entering My gate unaware – A frog. Six words. The whole point of the verse lies … Continue reading
WAGONS, NO JETS
One of the great differences between hokku and modern haiku is found in subject matter. In modern haiku one finds verses about all the things that hokku, for one reason or another, rejected. I say “for one reason or another,” … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Bashô, Edward Shanks, haikai, haiku, hokku, Shiki, Technology, trains
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A PATH TO THE SEA
We have seen how to begin working with models in hokku, using the method of substitution. It is important to keep in mind,however, that this is only a beginning. It will enable one to follow the form and structure of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged hokku aesthetics, hokku structure, Otsuji, path, poetry, sea, spring rain
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KNOWING WHEN TO BE SILENT
Edward Richard Burton Shanks wrote a poem titled “A Night-Piece” in the “Georgian” period of English poetry (1910-1936) — a work a bit overlong that ends with these words: Again . . . again! The faint sounds rise and fail. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Asakusa, autumn wind, Bashô, cherry blossoms, cows, haikai, haiku, hokku, question hokku, Ueno, Ōemaru
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THE LARK ASCENDING: MORE WORK WITH MODELS
There is not just a single way to translate a hokku from one language to another. Structurally, and in vocabulary, Japanese and English are very different. And English has considerable freedom in how one says a thing. This is very … Continue reading
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Tagged haikai, haiku, hokku, hokku models, island, Issa, lark ascending, Onitsura, punctuation, sklark, tilling
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A SENSIBLE CAUTION
For those of us who have a regular meditative practice (and I hope that is many of us) here is a very sensible posting by a Buddhist monk. It is something everyone should take to heart when going for spiritual … Continue reading
WORKING WITH MODELS
The very old practice of using models to learn hokku is, as I have mentioned earlier, also a very good one. One should not think of it as simplistic or elementary, because if offers the opportunity to fix these models … Continue reading
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Tagged haikai, haiku, hokku, hokku models, Onitsura, pines, spring, standard hokku, wind
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THE OLD WAY OF LEARNING HOKKU
Those who have recently stumbled across my site might not understand what is happening here. Some may think I am just presenting an archive of old hokku in new translations; others may think I am here to complain about modern … Continue reading
TAKING OFF THE WORLD
I have mentioned previously the simple, elegant — one might even say “clean” feeling one gets from the hokku of Onitsura. It is unfortunate that he had no reliable students to carry on his kind of verse. Because of that, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged change of clothes, Henry David Thoreau, Onitsura, spring, summer, Walden
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MASAOKA SHIKI: THE GOOD AND THE BAD
There are two ways of looking at Masaoka Shiki (1869-1902): Viewed historically, Shiki was the first “haiku” writer. So “haiku” really began only with Shiki, near the end of the 19th century. Everything before him was hokku, in the wider … Continue reading
EVEN SHIKI WOULDN’T RECOGNIZE IT
Modern haiku is not hokku. It is generally not even haiku. We have seen that a hokku is a written thing-event in which an unspoken significance is perceived. It involves Nature and the place of humans as a part … Continue reading
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Tagged haikai, haiku, hokku, Raizan, Shiki, sparrows, whitebait
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FREEDOM FROM POETRY
One who learns hokku learns to be free from poetry. Isn’t that a contradiction in terms? Isn’t a hokku a poem? The answer is that a hokku is not a poem, and hokku is not poetry, and those who write … Continue reading
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Tagged Buson, haikai, haiku, hokku, poem, poetry, spring sea, thing-event
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THE ESSENCE OF THE MATTER
I have never been an admirer of Confucius, yet one can say of the teaching of hokku what Confucius said: “The Master said, “Do you think, my disciples, that I have any concealments? I conceal nothing from you. There is … Continue reading
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Tagged Confucius, haikai, haiku, hokku, Modern Haiku, Mokudô
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QUIET, STILL AND SURGING
I have always been very fond of the hokku of Onitsura, the other of the two “patriarchs” of our kind of hokku. Onitsura’s verses have a very simple elegance, like that found in an old person who, however poor and … Continue reading
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Tagged Bashô, cherry blossoms, Enjōji, haikai, haiku, hokku, macron, Onitsura
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THE RIGHT TOOL
Cooks and craftsmen know that it is important to choose the right tool for the right job. The same applies to verse. In my years of teaching hokku, I commonly and often heard the complaint from haiku enthusiasts that hokku … Continue reading
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Tagged Bashô, haikai, haiku, hokku, Kamo no Mabuchi, waka, Walt Whitman
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WHY HOKKU AVOIDS TECHNOLOGY
Hokku has deliberate limits on its subject matter, and one of those boundaries excludes what we loosely call “technology.” As a result of the Industrial Revolution and the consequent great expansion in use of technology and consumption of fossil fuels, … Continue reading
ISSA’S SIX PATHS
I have spoken before about the pervasive influence of Mahayana Buddhist spirituality — influenced by Daoism and a dash of Animism (via Shintō) — in old hokku. Usually I just call it the “spirituality” of hokku, and some call it … Continue reading
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Tagged animals, asuras, devas, gods, haikai, haiku, hells, hokku, humans, hungry ghosts, Issa, Pure Land, rebirth, Six Paths, Six Realms, Six Ways, zen
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CRAB SUSPICIONS
Now back to spring…. Rofu wrote an interesting verse set in the spring: Ashiato wo kani no ayashimu shiohi kana Foot-step wo crab ‘s suspicion ebb-tide kana If one wants a good, brief look at how … Continue reading
FITTING OUR LIVES TO HOKKU
It is a mistake to think that I present old hokku here simply to translate them into English. My ultimate purpose in doing so is to teach readers how to write new and original hokku in English, and one of … Continue reading
INEVITABLE CHERRY BLOSSOMS
In old hokku cherry blossoms were so prominent that they were often not even called cherry blossoms in writing. Just the word hana – “blossoms” — by itself came to mean cherry blossoms. Conversely, the word cherry (sakura) used to … Continue reading
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Tagged Bashô, cherry blossoms, Chora, haikai, haiku, hana, hokku, Issa, sakura, transience
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A TRICKLE AMID THE SPRING WEEDS
As many of you know, before the Winter Solstice I posted a message saying that the next day would see my last posting here. Well, obviously that did not happen. Why? Because over time I noticed that significant numbers of … Continue reading
UNHURRIED BUTTERFLIES
Wafū wrote: Chō kiete tamashii ware ni kaeri keri Butterfly having-gone spirit me to returned The butterfly gone, My spirit Came back to me. What does he mean? He means that he was so absorbed in watching … Continue reading
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Tagged Buson, butterflies, Garaku, haikai, haiku, harmony of contrast, hokku, R. H. Blyth, Shiki, Sora, Wafū
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ХОККУ ПО-РУССКИ?
Russian hokku? Yes, one can write hokku in many other languages than English, using the same principles as in English-language hokku. The situation is complicated slightly by the fact that though Russians still use the correct old term, hokku, they … Continue reading
EYES GROW WEARY
In the last posting, we looked at a verse by Issa, who tends to bring emotion into his hokku. Today we will look at something more objective on the same “spring” topic, “the long day.” As we saw in Issa’s … Continue reading
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Tagged beach, bridge, Issa, river, sea, Shiki, spring, standard hokku, statement hokku, Taigi, the long day
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THE LENGTHENING OF DAYS
One of the most obvious characteristics of the coming and advance of spring is the lengthening of the days. The sun rises earlier and lingers later. To those who live close to Nature this is a matter of great significance. … Continue reading
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Tagged Bilbo Baggins, haikai, haiku, Isaiah, Issa, J.R.R. Tolkien, old age, spring, statement hokku, the long day
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