The World of Haiku (Volume D)
Tokugawa Japan (1603-1868)
• The Tokugawa shogunate helped to
stabilize Japanese society after a long
period of civil wars and social disorder.
• Its many cities became vibrant,
bustling places, especially as the elite
samurai (the warrior class), left with no
wars to fight, settled in urban centers
to work (and play).
• Though the shogunate imposed strict
social order, they also provided
education to common classes of
people. This in turn produced demand
for new literatures that reflected
common, everyday life.
This map represents a reunified Japan and the
Tokugawa clan.
Background
• Popular during the 17th
century
• merchant, samurai class –
economic and cultural force
• Commercial printing and
bookstores
• Growth of literacy
• popular reading—haikai and
Buddhist devotional texts
The image is a portrait of Tokugawa
Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa
shogunate.
Unorthodox Poetry
• Haikai - “comic” or
“unorthodox” poetry; it
is the origin of haiku
• haibun (prose essay)
• haiga (ink paintings)
• Haiku - 3 lines,
seventeen on (sound
units) containing a kiru
(juxtaposition), a kireji
(cutting) and kigo
(seasonal reference)
Haiku Style
• kiru, juxtaposition,
and kireji, cutting
word
• kigo, seasonal
reference
• on, phonetic unit
“An old pond—
A frog leaps in,
The sound of water”
Bashō
Matsuo Bashō’s haiku
• http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=zXvzgR3
A9_I
The image is an artwork showing a
terakoya (ca. 1842–45), by Issunshi
Hanasato. The terakoya were private
temple schools of reading and writing for
commoners’ children during the Edo
Period.
Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694)
• marginal figure like
people who feature in
his poetry
• 1680 retreat to
“Banana plant hut” –
pen name
• 5 month journey with
Sora
• The Narrow Road to
the Deep North pilgrimage through
nature
Morikawa Kyoriku (1656–1715)
• A disciple of Basho, Morikawa Kyoriku’s
treatise on poetry develops and theorizes
the idea of kiru, or juxtaposition.
• He demonstrates the process of creating a
haiku by starting with two elements he
wants to contrast, “scent of plum
blossoms” and “blue lacquer bowl,” and he
works through various possibilities for a
middle line before settling on one.
• He creates his juxtaposed image and then
lets the reader infer emotion from it .
Yosa Buson (1716–1783)
• Combines popular haiku poetry with more
highbrow and traditional forms of Chinese poetry
to create serious, spiritual poetry.
• Haiku as spiritual and contemplative poetry.
• The haiku at the end of The Badger still uses a
Matsuo Bashō-style juxtaposition, between a
badger and Buddha but uses it to deliver a
spiritual message: even the most humble
creatures can eventually achieve transcendent
peace.
Yosa Buson (1716–1783)
“To depart from the
common in painting,
they must throw away
their brushes and
read books. In this
case, how can there
be a distance
between Chinese
poetry and haikai” (p.
630).
The image is a photograph of Yosa
Buson’s grave.
Test Your Knowledge
With no wars left to fight, the numerous elite
samurais often became _________ .
a. bureaucrats
b. artists
c. farmers
d. warriors
Test Your Knowledge
Which of the following works is the diary of a
poet’s travels?
a. Life of a Sensuous Woman
b. Matsu Bashō
c. The Narrow Road to the Deep North
d. Collection of Myriad Leaves
Test Your Knowledge
Which of the following statements is true?
a. Writers of the period were not highly
regarded.
b. Theater was not considered a literary
form.
c. Writers often mixed elements of classical
and popular literature.
d. Writers were not allowed to mix elements
of classical and popular literature.
Now you are the poet!
• In pairs, choose one of the texts we have
previously discussed in class.
• Think about two elements or images in this
text that you would like to contrast.
• Somehow, add a seasonal element or
reference to nature.
• Link ideas together.
• Now polish it up so that you have 17
syllables.
• Congratulations on your first haiku!