The World of Haiku Volume D Tokugawa Japan

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 17 th 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=z. Xvzg. R 3 A 9_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!