Two+Japanese+Haiku


 * Two Japanese Haiku **

The lightning flashes! And slashing through the darkness, A night-heron’s screech.

A lightning gleam: into darkness travels a night heron’s scream
 * -Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) **

The falling flower I saw drift back to the branch Was a butterfly.

Fallen flowers rise back to the branch-I watch: oh...butterflies!
 * -Moritake (1452-1540) **


 * Matsuo Basho ** was born Matsuo Kinsaku near Kyoto in 1644 to a minor samurai. Japan closed its borders soon after Basho was born, and he lived most of his life in the Japanese culture revival caused by this isolation. He became interested in literature while working as a young lord's servant at Ueno Castle; after the lord dies, he moved to Kyoto and studied under the locally famous poet Kigin. Under Kigin, he began to write //renga,// which were poems composed in collaboration through linked verses. The opening verse of a renga, the //hokku,// was composed of unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables and was developed during Basho's lifetime into the modern haiku. In his 20's, Basho converted to Zen Buddhism, and incorporated naturalist Zen perspectives into his poetry. Basho also created the //haibun,// a poetry form that alternates between haiku and prose to describe a journey. Throughout the rest of his life, Basho would walk thousands of miles to complete his haibuns, often drawing a distinction between the external and internal images he observed. He passed away at 50 in 1694.




 * Arakida Moritake** established renga about a hundred years before Basho, and //waka//, which also focused on the number of syllables per line rather than the rhyme scheme in the poem, and was a forerunner of the modern haiku. Moritake was one of the first to treat the single-stanza haiku as a form of poetry. He was also a devout Shintoist, and became a priest in the last few years before his death; the Shinto belief in natural being and intelligence in landscapes was often manifest in his poetry.

Visual Figurative Language Visual Figurative Language Second stanzas: 4-7-5 or 5-7-4 || Haiku structure developed to intentionally restrict the poet and draw attention to the images rather than the language featured. The difference in syllable structure between the stanzas in both poems is likely due to translation. ||
 * || **Element** || **Explainations** ||
 * **Theme** || * Omnipresence of Nature
 * Conscious elements || * Both poets lived during the Japanese revival
 * Each belonged to nature-oriented religions (Shintoism and Zen Bhuddism) ||
 * **Imagery** || Auditory
 * "A night-heron's screech"
 * "The lightning flashes! Slashing through the darkness,"
 * "The falling flower"
 * "Fallen flowers rise"
 * "Oh...butterflies!"
 * "night-heron's screech"
 * "Was a butterfly" || Auditory
 * Basho's poem centers on the comparison of thunder and a wild scream. This is usually interpreted as a metaphor for lonliness and helplessness.
 * While Basho's haiku is more concerned with auditory imagery, it also explores the contrasts of light and darkness.
 * Moritake's haiku is almost exclusively concerned with visual imagery; he uses the haiku's simple structure to express rich imagery, and explores the contrast between inanimate flowers and animate butterflies.
 * The night-heron's screech is usually interpreted as a metaphor for loneliness and self-agony, while the storm represents isolation
 * Moritake's metaphor comparing the falling flowers to butterflies is usually interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, with the dead petals coming alive as 'butterflies'. ||
 * **Meter** || First stanzas: standard 5-7-5 syllable
 * **Emotion** || * Insignificance/loneliness
 * Joy and appreciation || Both poems deal with contrasts in nature; Basho's deals with human feelings of insignificance in relation to nature, while Moritake's deals with the beauty of nature's complexities. ||

Works Cited:

"Basho." //Poetry Foundation //. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.

"BBC - Religions - Shinto: Kami." //BBC News //. BBC, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.

Arakida Moritake, Steven D. Carter (Translator). "Arakida Moritake." //Goodreads //. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.