Archives
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
Blogroll
Blog Stats
- 117,363 hits
Tag Archives: R. H. Blyth
THE IMPORTANCE OF HERON LEGS: GRASPING THE ESSENCE OF AN EVENT
Buson wrote a pleasant summer hokku: An evening breeze; The water laps against The heron’s legs. R. H. Blyth made a very pertinent comment on this verse, a remark precisely in keeping the principles of modern hokku: “Buson’s intuitions are … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Buson, heron, hokku, nature, objectivity, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spirituality, summer, writing
Leave a comment
THE LONG DAYS OF SPRING: BUSON AND SHIKI
There are some hokku that do not seem quite right but nonetheless have value for what they are. There is, for example, this spring verse by Buson: Osoki hi no tsumorite tōki mukashi kana Long day ‘s accumulating … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Buson, haiku, hokku, long spring days, R. H. Blyth, spring, Yosa Buson
Leave a comment
RAIN BEATS ON RAIN
Gyōdai wrote one of the simplest and best hokku, which in my region would be an autumn verse: Ochiba ochikasanarite ame ame wo utsu Falling-leaves fall-pile up rain rain wo beats Leaves fall And pile up; Rain beats on rain. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged autumn, Gyôdai, hokku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, Reginald Horace Blyth, seasons, spirituality, writing
Leave a comment
WHAT IS A FROG DOING IN AUTUMN?
As long-time readers here know, hokku is seasonal verse. Every verse is an event set in the context of a particular season. In old hokku (which was Japanese), this became too systematized, so that if one wrote about frogs, it … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged frog, frogs, hokku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, Reginald Horace Blyth, spring, verse, writing
Leave a comment
AUTUMN BEGINS: INCLINING TOWARD THE TRANQUILITY OF HOKKU
In previous postings I have discussed the relationship between Zen and hokku (yes, there is one). Today I would like to talk briefly about where Zen and hokku differ. First, Zen is more inclusive than hokku. Hokku deliberately restricts its … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Aki chikaki, autumn, autumn hokku, Bashô, haiku, Modern Haiku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, tea ceremony, teahouse, writing
Leave a comment
BIG ANT, BIG HEAT: INTERNAL REFLECTION IN HOKKU
If one does not have an understanding of the basic principles of hokku, it is often difficult to appreciate a verse because one simply does not “get” it. This was a major factor in the rise of modern haiku in … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged haiku, heat, hokku, internal reflection, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, seasons, Shirô, spirituality, summer, writing
Leave a comment
A LEAKY ROOF
A pleasant spring hokku by Bashō: Spring rain; A roof leak trickles Down the wasps’ nest. This reminds me of Blyth’s remark that to write hokku one should live in a house which either has a leaky roof or one with … Continue reading
Posted in Bashô
Tagged Bashô, hokku, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spirituality, spring, spring hokku, writing
Leave a comment
“GETTING” R. H. BLYTH
If you want to understand what R. H. Blyth meant by connecting Zen and hokku, it can be stated very simply. To Blyth, Zen was the elimination of the boundary between self and other, between subject and object. I have … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged hokku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spring, writing, zen
Leave a comment
TAO YUAN-MING’S SPRING
R. H. Blyth called this work by Tao Qian (Tao Yuan-ming, c. 365-427) and translated by Arthur Waley “the best translation… of the best poem in the world.” Swiftly the years, beyond recall, Solemn the stillness of this fair morning. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Arthur Waley, Chinese poetry, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spring, Tao Qian, Tao Yuan-ming, writing
Leave a comment
SPARROWS, VERANDAS, AND TWO QUITE DIFFERENT VIEWS
I recently mentioned some criticisms of R. H. Blyth that appear on a site called “Simply Haiku.” One can dismiss them (as I did — with quotes from Blyth to refute those I quoted) as simply wholesale misrepresentation and misunderstanding. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged haiku, hokku, Masaoka Shiki, R. H. Blyth, Reginald Horace Blyth, Richard Gilbert, Robert D. Wilson, Simply Haiku, sparrows, spring, zen
Leave a comment
DROPPING CAMELLIAS AND “EXPLANDED” TRANSLATIONS
I wrote yesterday of R. H. Blyth and his method of translating hokku. He wrote six volumes of such translations, nearly all of which had to do with hokku, though he used the terminology of the Japan of his day … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged camellias, Dansui, hazy moon, hokku, Modern Haiku, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spring, translation, writing
Leave a comment
HYAKUCHI: VANISHING COWS AND A SNEEZE
I have written before about the telegraphic brevity of old hokku, which often comes as a surprise to those who are accustomed to seeing it in English translations or to seeing modern English-language hokku. Here, for example, is R. H. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged hokku, Hyakuchi, poetic intuition, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spring, writing
Leave a comment
WRIGHT OR WRONG?
The automatic statistics of this site tell me that frequently people come here hoping to see something illuminating about the “haiku” of Richard Wright — just why, I am not certain, given that this site favors hokku and generally considers … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Bashô, Buson, haiku, hokku, poetry, R. H. Blyth, Richard Wright, Shiki, writing
Leave a comment
COLD MIDNIGHT RAIN
R. H. Blyth makes a significant point regarding the order of elements in hokku. To do so, he uses a verse by Ryōta, which I shall give here in my translation: Who is awake, The lamp still lit? Cold midnight … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged autumn, cold rain, early winter, lamp, late autumn, midnight, poetry, R. H. Blyth, rain, Ryôta, winter, writing, zen
Leave a comment
HOKKU IS NOT “WRITING POETRY”
I have written previously about this statement by R. H. Blyth on hokku. He tells us that a hokku “…is the result of the wish, the effort, not to speak, not to write poetry, not to obscure further the truth … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Boshō, chestnuts, haikai, hokku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, writing, zen
Leave a comment
Grown Old
The woman Seifu wrote: Doll faces; Unavoidably, I have grown old. The interest here is in harmony of opposites. The faces of the dolls look still the same age, but the writer, by contrast, finds herself inevitably grown old — … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged aging, dolls, haikai, haiku, hokku, R. H. Blyth, Seifu, spring
Leave a comment
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
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Buson, butterflies, Garaku, haikai, haiku, harmony of contrast, hokku, R. H. Blyth, Shiki, Sora, Wafū
Leave a comment
FAILURE OF TRANSMISSION
It is interesting to note that the term haiku did not begin to catch on in the West until the middle of the 1900s. Prior to that time, when Americans or Europeans spoke of the brief Japanese verse form, they … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Amy Lowell, Basil Hall Chamberlain, Ezra Pound, haikai, haiku, Harold Henderson, hokku, Masaoka Shiki, Modern Haiku, R. H. Blyth
Leave a comment
TWO ROADS DIVERGED….
Yesterday I discussed the well-intentioned but rather futile effort of James W. Hackett to halt and reverse the “aesthetic devolution” of the modern haiku. As readers here know, I do not teach or advocate haiku, so some explanation is necessary … Continue reading
NO SKY, NO EARTH
Hashin wrote a winter hokku that has always been a favorite: Ten mo chi mo nashi ni yuki no furishikiri Sky too earth too are-not at snow ‘s falling-ceaselessly No sky, no earth; The ceaseless … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Chiyo-ni, Hashin, Jōsō, mutual reflection, R. H. Blyth, sleet, snow, soko nukete, winter
Leave a comment
SEASONAL HARMONY
In hokku the concept of harmony is very important. If a verse is composed of elements that are inharmonious with one another, the hokku will fail. But beyond that, the hokku should be in harmony with the season in which … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged haikai, harmony, hokku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, seasons, writing, zen
Leave a comment
A MIRROR REFLECTING
I have talked about the simplicity of hokku, and of its poverty that allows us only a few ordinary words. And I have talked about the selflessness of hokku, in which the writer does not try to draw the attention … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged haikai, hokku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spirituality, writing, zen
Leave a comment
UNKNOWING
There is something very mysterious and significant about a question. In the Zen sect, one major practice is the continual asking of an internal question — “Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?” perhaps, or “What was my true face … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged autumn, fog, haikai, hokku, nature, poetry, question hokku, R. H. Blyth, Ramana Maharshi, writing, zen
Leave a comment
HOKKU AS SPIRITUAL VERSE
Hokku at its best was and is spiritual verse. That does not mean “religious” in any dogmatic sense. It is not about dogmas and beliefs. It is spiritual in that it re-unites — if only briefly — subject and object, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Bashô, crows, haikai, harmony, hokku, nature, Onitsura, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spirituality, W. B. Yeats, writing, zen
Leave a comment
