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. Hokku and Haikai 発句と俳諧 .
- - - - - June 2013
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Hokku and Haikai 発句と俳諧
Haiku evolved from haikai, a type of linked verse that was written during the Edo period. Every haikai sequence begins with an opening verse, often including a greeting to the host and involving a seasonal reference.
This opening verse or beginning stanza was called
" hokku 発句" .
Any other poem of the same form was simply called KU 句 poem, verse.
Poems as part of a linked verse, but not the first one, were called tsukeku, tsuke-ku 付句 "added verse". Some of them did not need a season word.
Since about 1670, the haikai poets started composing stand-alone poems of 5 7 5, independent from the renku 連句 linked verse.
They were simply called KU 句, poem, verse.
The Japanese haiku in its relation to the season is also often called
"kisetsu no aisatsu", a seasonal greeting,
whereby the kigo carries the seasonal message and mood.
In the hokku 発句 first verse of a renku 連句 linked poem of the Edo period and up to our times this was usually written by the most important guest (very often Matsuo Basho) as a greeting to the host.
By carefully choosing a plant or an animal for example the guest poet could playfully hint at a feature or characteristic of his host.
It can also feature a placename 地発句（じほっく） jihokku.
jibokku is a term used by Shirane: Traces of dreams.
source : books.google.co.jp
haikai can be seen more as a craft than an art, whereby the student studies with his master, using the kigo as one-third of a poem and adding just two more lines.
It takes a few years of study with a Japanese sensei to be able to use kigo skillfully in this way.
During a haikai meeting in the Edo period, it was custom to perform an ikebana arrangement after the guest of honour had written the first poem (hokku 発句) with a seasonal hint.
. Ikebana and rikka 立花 "standing flowers" .
quote
In ikebana, the art of flower arrangement, the artist instead of attempting to imitate nature, "cuts" the flower, opening up space that the audience can enter into with his or her imagination. ...
Haruo Shirane : Traces of Dreams
source : books.google.co.jp
A hokku and a haiku in Japan share the same basic formal criteria:
5 7 5
one kireji
one kigo
Shiki did not touch this definition when he promoted the naming of haiku 俳句.
The rest about the contents of the poem
is up to a master (先生 sensei） to promote as he wishes.
Some stress the Zen influence,
others the Daoist influence,
others the shasei influence, and so on.
Once the formal criteria are lost,
it is up to each editor to promote what he likes best.
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quote - Haruo Shirane
With the dramatic growth of haikai in the seventeenth century,
the number of new seasonal words grew rapidly.
- snip - ... while the number of seasonal words grew at an astounding pace,
the number of seasonal topics (kidai) remained relatively limited.
. WKD : Kigo and Kidai .
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Kigo and Zooka, zōka 造化 (zoka), the creative force
The creative force was an important abstract aspect of hokku since Matsuo Basho.
Kigo, on the other hand, are a real-life tool to be used when composing traditional Japanese hokku and haiku.
KI means "one season" and GO means word, so the word can only indicate one season when the poem is alive, although the item may be around during all seasons.
These words have been collected in almanacs called SAIJIKI for all poets to honour the formal conditions of writing traditional Japanese hokku/haiku.
They carry the zooka in their very existence.
cherry blossoms
we remember the ones from years past,
we enjoy the one's now in front of our eyes,
we ponder the blossoms of years in the future
. Zooka 造化 and Matsuo Basho .
quote
Transience, impermanence Japanese: 無常 mujō, mujoo
one of the essential doctrines or three marks of existence in Buddhism.
The term expresses the Buddhist notion that all of conditioned existence, without exception, is in a constant state of flux.
source : en.wikipedia.or
Dookyoo, Dô-kyô 道教 - Dōka 道家 Daoism
Taoism & Taoist Philosophy
in Japanese Art and Culture
What is Taoism (Daoism)?
The teachings of the Chinese sage Lao Tzu (−5th or −4th centuries). The impact of Taoism on the philosophic mindset and artistic heritage of China and Japan is impossible to exaggerate. Taoism (Jp. = Dōkyō 道教) is one of three great philosophies of China.
source : Mark Schumacher
Taoism in Japan can be easily seen as superstitious or astrological and the concept of demons and spirits seem to have their roots in a Taoist influence such as Onmyōdō and Shugendō.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !
. . . . .
quote
Basho's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho
"He clearly was being influenced by the seriousness and depth of the Chinese verse as well as the spiritual aesthetics of Zen." . . . Later in the 1690s, Basho took an altogether different turn, opting for a lighter, more uplifting tone. "This aesthetic reflected his renewed sense of the significance of the mundane dimension of life and art. It also helped him deal with an increasingly troubled spirit, something that became apparent . . ." near the end of his life.
source : David Landis Barnhill
. . . . .
quote
Interview - David Landis Barnhill
by Robert D. Wilson
DLB
... Whether it is religion or the arts in East Asia, the goal is to really, truly see how reality works and to harmonize with it – to participate in it. This is true of Confucianism and Daoism and Shinto, as well as Buddhism. You have to really see it, though, and then you really have to change. Being truly “natural” – acting according to our true nature and the true nature of reality that we are a part of – is what is most difficult.
RDW:
... Basho's world view wasn't confined to Zen Buddhism, and included in the broader Chinese religio-aesthetic tradition, which includes Daoism and Confucianism, as well as aesthetic ideas and ideals in the Chinese poetry and painting. You also point out in your footnote that Basho also was influenced by Shinto and Ainu shamanic animism.
source : simplyhaiku 2011
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quote
Dohô recalls in his Sanzôshi:
Accomplished poets tend to have flaws. The Master often said:
“Let an innocent child make haikai. The verse from a novice’s mind is most promising.”
These words warn us of the habitual flaws of accomplished writers. When getting into the substance of an object, one either cultivates the primal breath (ki 気) or suppresses it.
If one suppresses the momentum of the primal breath, the whole poem will lose vitality. The late Master also said:
“haikai must be composed on the momentum of the primal breath.”
- and -
Bashô himself also wrote a poem about Hundun:
混沌（ぬべつぼう）、翠（みどり）に乗りて気に遊ぶ
Nupeppô/midori ni norite/ki ni asobu
The Undifferentiated
riding on the green-hued air,
wanders in the atmosphere.
In this poem, “The Undifferentiated” is depicted as an image of carefree wandering. Although the allusion in this poem, as well as in other poems of the period, shows mainly a thematic interest in the gûgen, the Shômons’ early knowledge of the Hundun story presages a later theoretical emphasis on the “primal breath” and the “undifferentiated” state of the poetic mind.
source : Basho-and-the-Dao - Peipei-Qiu
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quote
Karumi
Matsuo Basho's Ultimate Poetical Value, Or was it?
I would propose that karumi, a preoccupation of Basho's final years, was an extremely important vehicle by which he tried to merge the refined, traditional poetic style of aristocratic vein with the new, humorous and light-hearted style of the common herd, using ordinary words and everyday subjects thus, perpetuating the creation of the Shofu, which would be an entirely new Japanese poetic expression. How far he succeeded in doing so is open to discussion. ...
Haikai wa tada fuga nari. (fuuga)
Fuga ni ron wa sukoshi mo gazanaku soro.
Haikai is nothing but poetry.
Poetry needs no theory.
. WKD archives : Susumu Takiguchi .
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The cut marker (kireji) KANA かな / 哉
quote
In the XV Century, the Golden Age of classical renga, there were 18 kireji.
The word "kana" was used to terminate the hokku, the first verse of a renga.
In that sense, it allowed the hokku to stand alone.
Basho argued that it was not necessary, and you will find many of his renku with hokku that do not terminate with "kana."
There are some Japanese haiku teachers nearly as badly informed as most North American haiku poets. They say that "kana" is an exclamation of joy. A moments reflection will show that this cannot be the case.
Chiyo-ni - the greatest poet of philosophical haiku - used the kana kireji as a device to complete 5 mora in the third [vertical] line. Look up her "the prostitute sleeps alone" hokku and ask the obvious
question:
Can a word of joy be used in a poem which speaks of a deep sadness?
- Hugh Bygott -
Translating Haiku Forum
. Chiyo-Ni and the Prostitute .
I think, KANA just stresses the basic emotion or mood of the haiku,
an emotion of any kind.
Just as with the neutral exclamation mark we can stress an emotion
this is sad, changes to ... how sad!
this is beautiful, changes to ... how beautiful !
how horrible !
how ugly !
how surprizing !
and so on ...
how manifold the meaning of KANA !
Gabi Greve
. 18 kireji 切れ字 .
and more about KANA
Haiku ending in KANA by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .
Haiku expressing emotions directly by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .
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GO SHICHI GO - 5 7 5
Since Japanese hokku is quite strict with this pattern (the few exceptions are neglegible for this proposal)
EL hokku should try to keep the symmetry of the form -
short - long - short
best as it is 5 - 7 - 5
or
2 - 3 - 2
3 - 5 - 3
4 - 6 - 4
But not for example
short - very long - very short
very short - long - short
. . . . .
Discussing :
. Five Seven Five THEORY 5 7 5 .
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the old pond "stands for" an old pond.
symbols and images in Basho's Hokku
. symbols and images in Basho's hokku .
Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 advises his disciples
"The poetic mind must always remain detached (mujo) and
eccentric (kyoken).
The thematic materials must be chosen from ordinary life.
The diction must be entirely from everyday language."
source : Peipei Qiu: Basho and the Dao
He also taught them:
. Learn from the Pine ! .
To do that you must leave behind you all subjective prejudice.
Otherwise you will force your own self onto the object
and can learn nothing from it.
Your poem will well-up of its own accord
when you and the object become one,
when you dive deep enough into the object,
to discover something of its hidden glimmer.
The word "shasei 写生" has not yet been invented at the time of Basho,
but the idea was here.
. Sketching from Nature , SHASEI 写生 .
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A FALSE START? THEN, START AGAIN!
- Reflections on Haikai –
Perhaps we made a false start. If that be the case, then the subsequent developments cannot all be really right.
We started with HAIKU. We should have started with HAIKAI, instead.
Little wonder that so many grievous mistakes have been made and still remain uncorrected in our understanding of haiku.
HAIKAI is a common sense in Japan. It is not so outside Japan. Looking back, that has been the real problem.
Even those non-Japanese who understand HAIKAI may do so rather vaguely.
So, what is the difference between the two? What is HAIKAI at all?
In a word and in the nutshell, HAIKAI means comic, or comedy, or a sense of humour. And this is more or less the most essential and even the only necessary understanding of HAIKAI, after all is said and done.
HAIKAI is not really a Japanese word. It was borrowed from the Chinese language as there was no suitable alternative in Japanese.
HAIKAI-NO-RENGA is today’s renku and it is well-known that haiku was initially derived from the hokku, or the first stanza of HAIKAI-NO-RENGA when Shiki Masaoka (1867-1902) undertook his famous haiku reform.
Read more HERE
© Susumu Takiguchi, 2008
The first haikai document to record the word "haiku" is thought by general consent to be Hattori Sadakiyo's "Obaeshu" which was published in Kambun 3 (1663). Originally, "haiku" was abbreviated from "haikai-no-ku" and was used as a general term to mean any ku (stanza), whether it was "hokku", or other "tsukeku", in the haikai-no-renga.
In the Meiji era, it took some time before "haiku" was established and well circulated. "A History of Japanese Literature" by Sanji Mikami and Sukisaburo Takatsu (1890), for example, gave the word "haiku" a proper status as a technical literary term and consciously used it to signify an independent form of poetry previously represented by "hokku".
source : Susumu Takiguchi, WHR August 2010
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Earl Miner, in his book "Japanese Linked Poetry:"
"the common division of Japanese arts into the elegant or refined (ga) and low or vulgar (zoku), most critics would assign renga to the refined arts and haikai to the low.
Konishi Jin'ichi protests, saying that haikai has one refined leg and one vulgar leg. To walk comfortably with such dissimilar legs is no small art."
Japanese Linked Poetry
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Quoting David Coomler, 2007
Many years ago I noticed that hokku — the centuries-old Nature-based verse form — was in danger of being lost and forgotten entirely. People were not only mistakenly confusing it with haiku, but they also — even the supposed “authorities” of the haiku community — had seemingly no longer any real knowledge of the principles and standards of hokku.
Consequently I began teaching hokku, and I continue teaching it today.
It is an antidote to much that is wrong with our present world — the materiality, the selfishness, the greed and disrespect for Nature that have led us to the serious environmental problems we face today.
Hokku is a simple gift, but profound in its simplicity.
If you find it speaks to your condition, I invite you to join me.
David Coomler
http://hokku.wordpress.com/about/
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. WKD : Haikai
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- - - - - Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉
発句なり松尾桃青宿の春
発句也松尾桃青宿の春
發句なり芭蕉桃青宿の春 - 翁
hokku nari Matsuo Toosei yado no haru
this is a hokku -
Matsuo Tosei's
home on New Year
Tr. Gabi Greve
1679 延宝7年, Basho age 36
On the first morning of the New Year.
In 1678 延宝６年 he had put up his "shop sign" Tosei and become a professional Haikai Master 俳諧宗匠.
This hokku shows his strong self-confidence in his new profession.
Toosei "Green Peach" was the nom de plume of Basho at that time.
He sounds almost like a tweeter, sharing his joy and expectations with the world.
Later on, Issa uses the expression
ora ga haru おらが春 "My Spring", my New Year.
Haseo, Baseo 芭蕉 （はせを）Basho / 誹若土糞 / 禾々軒桃青
. WKD : "spring in this lodge", "spring in my home" -
yado no haru 宿の春 .
kigo for the New Year
Maybe Basho was the first to use this expression?
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ほととぎす今は俳諧師なき世哉
hototogisu ima wa haikaishi naki yo kana
hototogisu
there are no haikai masters
in this world now . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve
Between 1681 - 83
Hotogisu has been a well-loved theme of the old waka poetry.
But there is still no haikai poem with this word. How sad.
This hokku has a cut after line 1 and also the cut marker KANA at the end of line 3.
MORE
hototogisu hokku by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .
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杜若われに発句のおもひあり
kakitsubata ware ni hokku no omoi ari
blue flag iris -
thoughts of a hokku
in my mind
. "Kakitsubata" 杜若 Iris laevigata .
- Discussion of this hokku -
1685 - 貞亨2年4月4日 -
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旅寝して我が句を知れや秋の風
tabine shite waga ku o shire ya aki no kaze
spend nights on a journey,
then you'll know my poems--
autumn wind
Tr. Barnhill
1686 - Written around 1686 貞亨年間, Basho around 43 years
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .
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藤の実は俳諧にせん花の跡
fuji no mi wa haikai ni sen hana no ato
fuji seed pods
as theme for our haikai -
after the flowers
For Hirose Izen 広瀬維然.
1689 Oku no Hosomichi, at Ogaki, 元禄2年9月, ninth lunar month
The town of Seki 関 in Gifu was quite famous for its wisteria flowers, but when Basho arrived at Ogaki, it was autumn. So he composed this poem for his host, Hirose Izen 広瀬維然 from Seki.
(Maybe Izen was insecure about the various possibilities of haikai and this was an instruction for him.)
For Basho, anything at hand was worth a subject for a greeting poem and a haikai session.
This shows his true haikai spirit.
The priest Soogi 宗祇 Sogi (1421 - 1502) is famous for his waka about wisteria blossoms.
. WKD - fuji 藤 wisteria .
Oku no Hosomichi
. - - - Station 43 - Ogaki 大垣 - - - .
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顔に似ぬ発句も出でよ初桜
kao ni ninu hokku mo ideyo hatsu zakura
I will write hokku
that do not resemble my face -
first cherry blossoms
or in plural
we will write hokku
that do not resemble our faces -
first cherry blossoms
- 1694 - 元禄７年 - , Autumn
Basho was at Iga, Ueno, his homeground. He was discussing haikai with his student, Iga Toho, and most probably wrote this hokku to teach him a lesson. This was shortly before the death of Basho.
. Iga Tohoo 伊賀土芳 .
(1657 - 1730), Hattori Dohoo
Even now, when I am so old, I want to write hokku with a young touch,
like the first cherry blossons, always new and fresh. My heart will always be young.
老いてしまったこの私の顔にも似ないで若々しい発句がでないかなあ、この初桜のように初々しい、というような句意である。人間、肉体は老いて行くが心はいつまでも若くいられると信じている.
土芳本『全伝』注に、無明庵で『続猿蓑』の編集最中に、作句法や人の情など語り合ううちにふと思いついた句という。
『三冊子』には、まず上の五七が出来、これにふさわしい座五を探るうちに「初桜」に思い辺り、「初の字の位よろし」として決まったとある。当季でない季語を用いた。
source : www.geocities.co.jp
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