Shiba no To

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- Shiba no To 柴の戸 Brushwood Gate -

Essay "Shiba no To" 柴の戸 Brushwood Gate
真蹟懐紙




Buson on the anniversary of Basho's death


西吹けば東にたまる落ば哉
nishi fukeba higashi ni tamaru ochiba kana

blowing from the west
fallen leaves gather
in the east

Further Reference



Remark by Larry Bole:

Since the above was written on the anniversary of Basho's death,
I suspect that it may have been inspired by Basho's:

柴の戸に茶の木の葉掻く嵐かな
shiba no to ni cha o konoha kaku asashi kana

against the brushwood gate
it sweeps the tea leaves:
windstorm
Tr. Barnhill


Against the brushwood gate
Dead tea leaves swirl
In the stormy wind.
source :　www.meister-z.com


Toward my brushwood door
sending tree leaves for my tea -
the stormy wind

The lines Basho cites in the passage are from Bo Juyi's (772 - 846) poem.
"Farwell to Hermit Zhang on His Return to Songyang".
Basho compares Chang'an, the ancient capital of Tang China, to the city in which he had lived and links his renunciation of profit and fame to the Chinese poem.

Peipei Qiu
source : http://books.google.co.jp



toward the brushwood gate
it sweeps the tea leaves -
stormy wind
Tr. Ueda



At my brushwood gate
drinking tea, leaves are swept up
by a stormy wind

In one of his earliest haibun, written in the late autumn of 1680 Basho writes, “Having lived an austere life for nine springs and autumns, I decided to move to the banks of the Fukagawa River. Having the same feelings as that poet of old, who once said,
‘Since Chang-an has long been a place for those who seek fame and fortune, a place tough on those who are empty-handed and penniless.’ Maybe that’s why I can appreciate his sensibility?”
Tr. and Comment : Bill Wyatt



Written in winter 延宝8年冬　Basho age 37
Basho had lived here and there in Edo and finally come to live in a small hut in Fukagawa.
He is reminded of a Chinese poem about the Chinese capital Chang An and his own poor lifestyle.

長安は古来名利の地、
空手にして金なきものは行路難し


柴の庵と聞けば賤しき名なれども
世に好もしきものにぞありける

source : itoyo/basho


"Shiba no To" 柴の戸 Brushwood Gate


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quote

shiba no io to kikeba iyashiki nanaredomo
yo ni konomoshiki mono ni zo arikeru

Brushwood hut:
the words sound so despicalbe and yet
in this world it is
a thing of true delight

This poem, included in the Sankashu, was written by the priest Saigyō when he visited a monk named Amidabō living in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto. I delighted in wondering what kind of person that monk was.
Here I offer a poem to a monk who now spends his life in a grass hut.

柴の戸の月やそのまま阿弥陀坊　
shiba no to no tsuki ya sono mama Amida boo

this brushwood hut's
moon; just as it was
for Amidabō

Tr. Barnhill
source : books.google.co.jp



Written about 貞亨元年, Basho age 41 or older




source :　yamatono_dorei_m
clay bell with this hokku 芭蕉土鈴




西行堂・西行庵・芭蕉堂
Saigyo Do Hall, Basho Do Hall in Higashiyama, Kyoto
. - Bashoo doo 芭蕉堂 Basho Do Hall - .


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. Cultural Keywords used by Basho .



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Kametaro article

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- Basho's Biography -

by Kametaro (Japan)

source : www.meister-z.com/meister_z


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Basho's Biography
AN INTRODUCTION
by Kametaro (Japan)


Basho's "Here and Now"

Western writings on haiku frequently assert that in Basho's view a haiku is what is happening here and now. But Basho wrote no discourse on the principles of haiku and his works contain few traces of theory that we can draw upon to reconstruct his concepts. I (Kametaro) have asked for help from colleagues who are specialists in the literature of Edo Period (1600-1868; Matsuo Basho lived from 1644 to 1694), but none has found a clear statement of the "here and now" principle.

In my opinion (Kametaro) this principle was established long before Basho. It seems to have been regarded as fundamental when haiku were still called haikai. Certainly every one of Basho's haiku testifies to the principle, though he never uttered it.

Mukai Kyorai (1651-1704) was one of the ten major disciples of Basho. His Kyoraisyo is considered the most important work dealing with the principles of haiku in Basho's time, but I cannot find anything in it that bears directly on this topic.

Kagami Shiko was another of Basho's ten most important disciples. A chapter called "Sonentei yo-banashi" in his Fukuro-nikki reports a discussion about haiku by Kyorai in which he stated that haiku are concerned with "what is spontaneous on the spot." Shiko added that Basho praised that statement.

As a peripheral note, I mention a story about Basho found on page 285, volume IX of the complete works of Basho published by Kadokawa Shoten, (1967):

"In the second year of the Jokyo period (1685) at dawn on the 14th day of the Ninth Month, Basho had a strange dream in which he was caught in a rainstorm and ran into a shrine to take shelter. The priest scolded him and turned him away, but then said he could stay if he could make a haiku that fit the moment. Basho replied, 'Oh, well, at this very place ...' and produced a haiku."

End of Kametaro Introductory Brief -- (January 1972)

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Followed by

BASHO'S LIFE
by Stephen Kohl

One day in the spring of 1681 a banana tree was being planted alongside a modest hut in a rustic area of Edo, a city now known as Tokyo. It was a gift from a local resident to his teacher of poetry, who had moved into the hut several months earlier. The teacher, a man of thirty-six years of age, was delighted with the gift. He loved the banana plant because it was somewhat like him in the way it stood there. Its large leaves were soft and sensitive and were easily torn when gusty winds blew from the sea. Its flowers were small and unobtrusive; they looked lonesome, as if they knew they could bear no fruit in the cool climate of Japan. Its stalks were long and fresh-looking, yet they were of no practical use.

The teacher lived all alone in the hut. On nights when he had no visitor, he would sit quietly and listen to the wind blowing through the banana leaves. The lonely atmosphere would deepen on rainy nights. Rain water leaking through the roof dripped intermittently into a basin. To the ears of the poet sitting in the dimly lighted room, the sound made a strange harmony with the rustling of the banana leaves outside.


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MORE in the WKD library
. BASHO'S LIFE - Stephen Kohl .

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