One thing we like to do here at Cafe Haiku, is take a fresh and unique look at themes in the world of haiku. This series is a look at poignant, touching poetry – the jisei or death haiku of the Japanese tradition. This series will continue for a while as our editors take a new look at an old subject. And not only Japanese. We will look at death poems from the rest of the world too. Join us on this emotional but ultimately life affirming journey.
In this series, haiku poet and Japanese teacher Geethanjali Rajan gives us a unique view of the last poems of the four masters, written specially for Cafe Haiku. We will carry one Jisei post every Tuesday. There is lots more to come in the Jisei series so happy reading.
The last word – or was it? Matsuo Basho
Geethanjali Rajan
The Great Master Basho, the one who lifted haikai out of banality but at the same time made it accessible to everyone, is probably the most-read haijin the world over.
There are various poems that are marked as Basho’s jisei and the topic is open to imagination and discussion – some say Basho refused to write a jisei, others aver that his students gathered around him and one of them was made to grind the ink. There is another version saying that he discussed various possible formats of the poem with his students before he fixed on one version. These stories add to the mystique of death, perhaps. But in the case of Basho’s poems, it is the haiku itself that is simple in its beauty and intent. Someone once commented that the meaning of Basho’s last verse depends on how old you are!
The poem that Basho is said to have written last is:
旅に病んで夢は枯野をかけ廻る
tabi ni yande yume wa kareno wo kakemeguru
-Matsuo Basho
on a journey, ailing —
my dreams roam about
on a withered moor
(Tr. Ueda Makoto)
Susumu Takiguchi, the Editor – in – Chief of World Haiku Review, points out that this haiku reflects “a demonic power which had possessed Basho” that had perhaps driven him continually to write poems. He also points us to the explanation that this poem may also reflect the poet’s despair of death that would “terminate his endeavour to perpetuate the creation of a new style.”(1)
Prof. Makoto Ueda talks about Basho’s awareness of his approaching death after he fell ill with a stomach ailment. He talks about Basho’s “obsession with verse-writing” even though he was well aware of the fact that it was a time for praying. Ueda says that Basho himself called it “a sinful attachment”. Basho was surrounded by his disciples and wrote the poem a few days (three or four) before he died. (2)
One of the most moving accounts of Basho’s last days and his final resting place is by his disciple Takarai Kikaku, translated by Prof. Nobuyuki Yuasa in An Account of Our Master Basho’s Last Days. Basho is said to have stated, “I have woken from an idle dream” and recited a version of his last poem. The disciple himself states in his account that Basho did not have to write a formal farewell poem on his deathbed because he had had a premonition of death and hence, had already written many poems on the subject.(3)
William Higginson has translated Basho’s same jisei (above) and has also written about the challenges of translating it. He also wrote of his dissatisfaction with this last emotion (despair?)-filled verse of Basho’s and pointed us to another ‘more composed’ verse that is said to have been written a day later. However, that verse was a reworking of an earlier poem is what he and some experts point out, and the discussions continue as to whether it, in fact, can be a jisei or not. (4) Here it is:
清滝や波に散り込む青松葉
kiyotaki ya nami ni chirikomu aomatsuba
clear cascade . . .
scattering together into the waves
young pine needles
(Tr. William Higginson)
I, for one, tend to feel that Basho, the great master that he was, wrote many haiku that could well be representative of his journey. I particularly love this one:
この道やゆく人なしに秋の暮れ
kono michi ya yuku hito nashi ni aki no kure
this road
with no travellers
Autumn dusk. (5)
This haiku could well be a reminder of the lonely journey Basho felt he had to undertake when he decided to act on lifting haiku into a purer form.
Stay tuned for more jisei no ku —- watch this series!
(1) https://haikutopics.blogspot.com/2006/08/travel-travelers-sky.html
(2) https://terebess.hu/english/haiku/matsuo.html
(3) http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv4n3/features/Nobuyuki.html
(4) https://haikutopics.blogspot.com/2006/08/travel-travelers-sky.html refers to the original source in haijinx
(5) Translated by me, any error is mine alone.
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