DELIGHTFUL SATURDAYS WITH MY FAVORITE AUTHORS AND POETS (72)

Matsuo Bashō

INFO WITH IMAGE : WIKIPEDIA

Matsuo Bashō , a renowned Japanese poet, whom we associate with Haiku, a highly popular form of poetry, was born as Matsuo Kinsaku in the year 1644 ,near Ueno, in Iga Province. Later on, he went by the name, Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa during Edo period. After centuries of discussion, Basho is now regarded as the greatest haiku master. During his lifetime, Bash was lauded for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga style (then called hokku).

A Traditional Japanese Haiku consists of three phrases made of 17 phonetic units or syllables, usually written as 5-7-5 including a cutting word called Kireji and a seasonal reference called Kigo. The poems which don’t follow these pattern come under the category called Senryu.

Basho also rose to fame with his travel essays and published ‘Records of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton (1684)’ after traveling West to Kyoto and Nara. The poetry of Matsuo Bash is well known throughout the world, and in Japan, many of his works are depicted on traditional buildings and monuments. Although Bash is well-known in the West for his hokku, he felt that leading and taking part in renku was where he produced his best work.

Basho’s family were of Samurai descent. His father was a peasant who owned land with the privilege of being a Samurai. Basho got trained as a Ninjutsu but worked as a domestic help to Tōdō Yoshitada but didn’t get promoted to Samurai class. He began working as a cook or a kitchen worker and then as a page to Yoshitada. Yoshitada influenced him to take up writing poetry.He enjoyed writing haikai no renga, a type of collaborative poetry, just as much as  Yoshitada did.

An opening 5-7-5 mora stanza was called a  hokku, but when it was presented as a stand-alone piece centuries later, it was termed a  haiku. Basho used Sobo as his pen name . He published his first extant poem in 1662 and by 1726, two of his hokkus were compiled and published. In 1665 , Basho and Yoshitada collaborated to write a hundred verse renku or hyakuin. Yoshitada died in 1666 which came as a severe jolt to Basho who almost became a recluse and left home.

The poet started writing under the pen name  Basho in 1680 after receiving a gift of a basho (banana)tree from one of his  students.

Bashō died on November 28, 1694 at Osaka, leaving behind the rich treasures of his literary skills. These lines are assumed to be his final composition.

His popular works are :

His popular Haikus translated in English

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