The Haiku of Basho

The Haiku is a poetic form developed in Japan. Its distinctive features include the formality of the style, which dictates that the poem must consist of exactly three lines, which do not rhyme and which consist of five, seven and five syllables. It is conventional for the haiku to focus on an aspect of nature and, partly as a result of the influence of Matsuo Basho, are strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism.

One of the most well-known haikus of Basho is this:

Old pond,
leap-splash -
a frog.

This translation, in the austere style of Lucien Stryk, demonstrates perhaps the essence of the haiku. Lightness of touch (karumi in Japanese) is used to describe a scene from nature. Ruminating on the image invoked by the poem can lead to a flare of enlightenment as a more profound truth is revealed. What is the meaning in this case? Numerous forms of understanding are possible, ranging perhaps from the inevitable seasonality of nature to the idea of the mind leaping into the ineffable. Another example perhaps shows a more concrete idea:

Poor boy - leaves
moon-viewing
for rice-grinding.

Here we might wonder why the boy is poor? Poor because of no money or poor because he is incapable of discerning the meaning of the moon? At least he has rice to grind and, therefore, will be able to fill his belly. Is this a comment on the alternative paths a person might take, that of the mind and that leading to material gain? It is a measure of how powerful such a frail-seeming poetic form can be in the hands of an expert that so few words can inspire such thoughts.

Matsuo Basho was born in 1644 in Ueno in Japan. He came from a Samurai family with a distinguished past and as a young man entered feudal service. However, he was subsequently able to leave this service and to wander around Japan, developing his mind and his poetic skills. His work subsequently reveals his knowledge of the beauties of Japan and the life of a traveler. Later in his life he lived in a monastery, a hermitage and other locations suitable for quiet personal reflection.

The form of poetry Basho favoured had originated in the fourteenth century in the form of linked verses. It had developed under masters such as Arakida Soritake (1473-1549) into a form known for its wit and humour rather than any more subtle or sophisticated intentions. Basho managed to change that through the publication of seven anthologies of his verse and it is his legacy that haiku writers up until the present day most commonly employ his methods and seek somehow to recreate his sensibilities. Indeed, the ease of composition of a haiku (although not necessarily a good haiku of course) has lent the form renewed popularity over the last few years. As well as serious attempts at poetry, newspapers offer awards for topical haiku while science fiction haiku have drawn a devoted following.

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