People in the West, sometimes quite insensitive to the My haiku was inspired by the Basho one on page 38 andĪitken's commentary on waving goodbye as a custom in Japan. Here's another haiku I wrote to play with what I think is the theme of the book as Presaging the appearance of the real purpose of the cherry tree: cherries. Lovely petals in the early April wind, cherry blossoms symbolize anĪttitude of nonattachment much admired in Japanese culture.Ĭompare this attitude with the Western attitude of the pretty cherry blossoms Instilled in the Japanese mind is the association of theĮphemerality of the cherry blossoms with the brevity of human life.īlooming for so short a time, and then casting loose in a shower of Here's what Aitken tells us about the importance of the cherry blossoms to Japanese Feel thisĭistinction as it plays out in the next haiku from page 130. Orient, the plum fruit is the forerunner of the plum-blossoms of future trees. We in the West think of apple blossoms as theįorerunner of the primary function of the apple tree: to produce apples, whereas the in the This deserves to be meditated on - there must a primacy of fruit for Western thought and a Would be reversed - there are two words for plum and only one word for plum blossom, etc. We are so accustomed to think of having a single word forįruit, like pear, apple, plum and two words to refer to the flowers, pear blossoms, appleīlossoms, and plum blossoms, that it would never occur to us that in Japanese the situation On page 30 Aitken shares an interesting distinction between English and Japanese A book of haiku should come with a warning label that says something like: "Do NotĮnter Except to Play or You Will be Pecked to Death by Doves." Of five, seven, and five syllables haiku has retained its form as a play verse in modern Actually the word haiku means "play verse."įrom its origin in the play of verses added to successively by multiple authors to itsĬurrent form of a single standalone poem consisting of a three line, seventeen syllable poem With their form, as all artists do variations on the form they are Running the meaning past the end of one segment into the next, playing Haiku poets commonly play with their base of three parts, Not able to get into the spirit of play that the authors infused their verses with. Some English reader called reading a book of haiku like "being pecked toĭeath by doves." Said reader felt attacked by the short choppy verses and was apparently The three forms he is able to discuss the various multiple meanings of each Japanese wordĪnd allow the non-Japanese reader to enter the world of Basho in a way that would else notīe possible. In his commentary that follows each poem, because of You get to see the form of post position in Japanese which is an inversion of what we call inĮnglish pre position or preposition. Translation done word by word from the Japanese original. The first haiku is usually his translation. Now that we're all wet together, let's examine how Aitken dissects the frog ofīasho. Impossible sometimes requires a pilot project first. Think to be adequate today but one he learned a lot from writing. dissertation title, a work he says he doesn't This book is a work of art by that definition - it doesn't seem possible and yet itĮxists. Only in the absolute but at the same time in the world of the necessary For art itself is not altogether possible (it is one of the thingsĪbout it that we prize), and yet it exists, for all that - just as we live not Haiku above I wrote in the margins of page 15 of the book. Well, I not only learned moreĪbout haiku but a lot about the Japanese language and my own language in addition. I thought I knew about haiku before I read this book. To which I would answer poetically: Haiku very much Intention, and implication would, when successful, be fulfilling for the The result would be a long poem of verses linked withĪssociations shared by the participants, and the movement in imagery, The first two lines in poetical intention. Would add another line of seventeen syllables that would be linked to One poet would write a line of seventeen syllables, andĪnother would cap that with a line of fourteen syllables. Historically, haiku developed from renku, the linked verseįorm that was popular among leisure classes in Japan from the earliest What is a haiku and where did it come from? Aitken tells us its origin in the Reminder of New Reviews & New DIGESTWORLD Issues - CLICK Like Us? Subscribe to Receive a Monthly Email A Zen Wave - Basho's Haiku & Zen by Robert Aitken, A Spiritual Science Review by Bobby Matherne Site Map: MAIN
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