Daily Archives: June 17, 2010

THE RED SUN

Posted on June 17, 2010 by

Sōseki wrote this summer hokku: The red sun Sinks down into the sea; The heat! The sun sinks into the sea every day, so what is different about this that makes it worthwhile and not just a commonplace?  It is … Continue reading →

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YIN-YANG HOKKU

Posted on June 17, 2010 by

In our practice of hokku, we must beware of using the entire body of existing old hokku and its related literature as a fundamentalist uses the Bible.  By this I mean that we should not say, for example, “Jōsō did … Continue reading →

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IN SEARCH OF THE ELUSIVE METAPHOR IN HOKKU

Posted on June 17, 2010 by

There is still a lot of confusion about metaphor and simile in hokku, so here is an old article newly revised to explain the matter more thoroughly: Haruo Shirane writes: “However, many of Basho’s haiku [sic] use metaphor and allegory, … Continue reading →

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THE BARE STONES OF HOKKU

Posted on June 17, 2010 by

Recently I had a pleasant dinner with a long-time friend.  As we sat, we looked through an exhibit catalog of student work, the work being paintings in the Chinese manner. There were two styles — the spontaneous, which was largely … Continue reading →

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