Matsuo Bashō - Wikipedia

On October 12, 1694, Matsuo Basho, greatest Japanese haiku poet, died. From the article:

"Matsuo Bashō (松尾 芭蕉, 1644–1694), born 松尾 金作, then Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa (松尾 忠右衛門 宗房),[2][3] was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku (then called hokku). Matsuo Bashō's poetry is internationally renowned; and, in Japan, many of his poems are reproduced on monuments and traditional sites. Although Bashō is justifiably famous in the West for his hokku, he himself believed his best work lay in leading and participating in renku. He is quoted as saying, "Many of my followers can write hokku as well as I can. Where I show who I really am is in linking haikai verses."[4]

Bashō was introduced to poetry at a young age, and after integrating himself into the intellectual scene of Edo (modern Tokyo) he quickly became well known throughout Japan. He made a living as a teacher; but then renounced the social, urban life of the literary circles and was inclined to wander throughout the country, heading west, east, and far into the northern wilderness to gain inspiration for his writing. His poems were influenced by his firsthand experience of the world around him, often encapsulating the feeling of a scene in a few simple elements.

Matsuo Bashō was born in 1644, near Ueno, in Iga Province.[5][6] The Matsuo family was of samurai descent, and his father probably was a musokunin, a class of landowning peasants granted certain privileges of samurai.[7][8]

Little is known of his childhood. In his late teens, Bashō became a servant to Tōdō Yoshitada (藤堂 良忠) probably in some humble capacity,[5][9] and probably not promoted to full samurai class.[10] It is claimed he served as cook or a kitchen worker in some near-contemporaneous accounts,[12] but there is no conclusive proof.[5] A later hypothesis is that he was chosen to serve as page (koshō (ja)) to Yoshitada, with alternative documentary evidence suggesting he started serving at a younger age.[13]

He shared Yoshitada's love for haikai no renga, a form of collaborative poetry composition.[14] A sequence was opened with a verse in 5-7-5 mora format; this verse was named a hokku, and would centuries later be renamed haiku when presented as a stand-alone work. The hokku would be followed by a related 7-7 mora verse by another poet. Both Bashō and Yoshitada gave themselves haigō (俳号), or haikai pen names; Bashō's was Sōbō (宗房), which was simply the on'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading) of his adult name, "Munefusa (宗房)". In 1662, the first extant poem by Bashō was published. In 1526, two of Bashō's hokku were printed in a compilation.[clarification needed]

In 1665, Bashō and Yoshitada together with some acquaintances composed a hyakuin, or one-hundred-verse renku. In 1666, Yoshitada's sudden death brought Bashō's peaceful life as a servant to an end. No records of this time remain, but it is believed that Bashō gave up any possibility of samurai status and left home.[15] Biographers have proposed various reasons and destinations, including the possibility of an affair between Bashō and a Shinto miko named Jutei (寿貞), which is unlikely to be true.[16] Bashō's own references to this time are vague; he recalled that "at one time I coveted an official post with a tenure of land", and that "there was a time when I was fascinated with the ways of homosexual love": there is no indication whether he was referring to real obsessions or fictional ones.[17] He was uncertain whether to become a full-time poet; by his own account, "the alternatives battled in my mind and made my life restless".[18] His indecision may have been influenced by the then still relatively low status of renga and haikai no renga as more social activities than serious artistic endeavors.[19] In any case, his poems continued to be published in anthologies in 1667, 1669, and 1671, and he published a compilation of work by himself and other authors of the Teitoku school, The Seashell Game (貝おほひ Kai Ōi), in 1672.[20] In about the spring of that year he moved to Edo, to further his study of poetry.[21]

In the fashionable literary circles of Nihonbashi, Bashō's poetry was quickly recognized for its simple and natural style. In 1674 he was inducted into the inner circle of the haikai profession, receiving secret teachings from Kitamura Kigin (1624–1705).[22] He wrote this hokku in mock tribute to the shōgun:

甲比丹もつくばはせけり君が春 kapitan mo / tsukubawasekeri / kimi ga haru
the Dutchmen, too, / kneel before His Lordship— / spring under His reign. [1678]

When Nishiyama Sōin, founder and leader of the Danrin school of haikai, came to Edo from Osaka in 1675, Bashō was among the poets invited to compose with him.[23] It was on this occasion that he gave himself the haigō of Tōsei, and by 1680 he had a full-time job teaching twenty disciples, who published The Best Poems of Tōsei's Twenty Disciples (桃青門弟独吟二十歌仙 Tōsei-montei Dokugin-Nijukasen), advertising their connection to Tōsei's talent. That winter, he took the surprising step of moving across the river to Fukagawa, out of the public eye and towards a more reclusive life.[24] His disciples built him a rustic hut and planted a Japanese banana tree (芭蕉 bashō) in the yard, giving Bashō a new haigō and his first permanent home. He appreciated the plant very much, but was not happy to see Fukagawa's native miscanthus grass growing alongside it:

ばしょう植ゑてまづ憎む荻の二葉哉 bashō uete / mazu nikumu ogi no / futaba kana
by my new banana plant / the first sign of something I loathe— / a miscanthus bud! [1680]

Despite his success, Bashō grew dissatisfied and lonely. He began to practice Zen meditation, but it seems not to have calmed his mind.[25] In the winter of 1682 his hut burned down, and shortly afterwards, in early 1683, his mother died. He then traveled to Yamura, to stay with a friend. In the winter of 1683 his disciples gave him a second hut in Edo, but his spirits did not improve. In 1684 his disciple Takarai Kikaku published a compilation of him and other poets, Shriveled Chestnuts (虚栗 Minashiguri).[26] Later that year he left Edo on the first of four major wanderings.[27]

Bashō traveled alone, off the beaten path, that is, on the Edo Five Routes, which in medieval Japan were regarded as immensely dangerous; and, at first Bashō expected to simply die in the middle of nowhere or be killed by bandits. However, as his trip progressed, his mood improved, and he became comfortable on the road. Bashō met many friends and grew to enjoy the changing scenery and the seasons.[28] His poems took on a less introspective and more striking tone as he observed the world around him:

馬をさへながむる雪の朝哉 uma wo sae / nagamuru yuki no / ashita kana
even a horse / arrests my eyes—on this / snowy morrow [1684]

The trip took him from Edo to Mount Fuji, Ueno, and Kyoto.[29] He met several poets who called themselves his disciples and wanted his advice; he told them to disregard the contemporary Edo style and even his own Shriveled Chestnuts, saying it contained "many verses that are not worth discussing".[30] Bashō returned to Edo in the summer of 1685, taking time along the way to write more hokku and comment on his own life:

年暮ぬ笠きて草鞋はきながら toshi kurenu / kasa kite waraji / hakinagara
another year is gone / a traveler's shade on my head, / straw sandals at my feet [1685]

When Bashō returned to Edo he happily resumed his job as a teacher of poetry at his bashō hut, although privately he was already making plans for another journey.[31] The poems from his journey were published as Account of Exposure to the Fields (野ざらし紀行 Nozarashi kikō). In early 1686 he composed one of his best-remembered haiku:

古池や蛙飛びこむ水の音 furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto
an ancient pond / a frog jumps in / the splash of water [1686]

Historians believe this poem became instantly famous: in April, the poets of Edo gathered at the bashō hut for a haikai no renga contest on the subject of frogs that seems to have been a tribute to Bashō's hokku, which was placed at the top of the compilation.[32] Bashō stayed in Edo, continuing to teach and hold contests, with an excursion in the autumn of 1687 when he traveled to the countryside for moon watching, and a longer trip in 1688 when he returned to Ueno to celebrate the Lunar New Year. At home in Edo, Bashō sometimes became reclusive: he alternated between rejecting visitors to his hut and appreciating their company.[33] At the same time, he enjoyed his life and had a subtle sense of humor, as reflected in his hokku:

いざさらば雪見にころぶ所迄 iza saraba / yukimi ni korobu / tokoromade
now then, let's go out / to enjoy the snow ... until / I slip and fall! [1688]. "