Haiku of Buson
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Haiku of Buson
MODERNISTIC six lines: Most haiku poems make do with 3 lines, and the
traditional, Japanese poetic form consists of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5,
7, and 5 syllables each. For translations the old rules may nor may not be adhered to throughout.Yosa Buson
THE JAPANESE painter Taniguchi (Yosi) Buson (1716-84) followed Basho in time and fame as a writer of haiku. He probably seems a little more sophisticated than Basho, and his haiku craft is equally exquisite. He was of a wealthy Japanese family, and came to pursue a career in the arts as a painter. Yet he won even more renown as an expert haiku poet, one that also experimented with the handed-over haiku form, eventually.Buson's poetry is known as "ornate and sensuous, rich in visual detail". He strove to revive the tradition of Basho, his forerunner in the haiku art, but never reached the level of Zen-linked and humanistic understanding had by Basho. [3]
Buson is known for saying, "Use the colloquial language to transcend colloquialism," and also that in a haiku "one must talk poetry."
Below are twenty-odd haiku by Buson. There are a few more poems of his on another page. [MORE]
Standing still at dusk
listen . . . In far
distances
The song of froglings!
My two plum trees are
so gracious . . .
see, they flower
One now, one later
The laden wagon runs
bumbling and creaking
down the road . . .
Three peonies tremble
Lightning flash, crash . . .
waiting in the
bamboo grove
See three dew-drops fall
Afternoon shower . . .
walking and talking
in the street:
Umbrella and raincoat!
Sadness at twilight . . .
villain! I have
let my hand
Cut that peony
In dim dusk and scent
a witness
now half hidden . . .
Evenfall orchid
Voices of two bells
that speak from
twilight temples . . .
Ah! Cool dialogue
Deep in dark forest
a woodcutter's
dull axe talking . . .
And a woodcutter
Butterfly asleep
folded soft on
temple bell . . .
Then bronze gong rang!
See the morning breeze
ruffling his so
silky hair . . .
Cool caterpillar
A camellia
dropped down into
still waters
Of a deep dark well
In the holy dusk
nightingales begin
their psalm . . .
Good! The dinner-gong!
A short summer night . . .
but in this solemn
darkness
One peony bloomed
Pebbles shining clear,
and clear
six silent fishes . . .
Deep autumn water
A bright autumn moon . . .
in the shadow of
each grass
An insect chirping
White chrysanthemum . . .
before that
perfect flower
Scissors hesitate
At furue in rain
gray water and
gray sand . . .
Picture without lines
The old fisherman
unalterably
intent . . .
Cold evening rain
Rainy-month, dripping
on and on
as I lie abed . . .
Ah, old man's memories!
Slanting lines of rain . . .
on the dusty
samisen
A mouse is trotting
Old weary willows . . .
I thought how long
the road would be
When you went away
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Literature
Bfa: Haugen, Paal-Helge: Blad frå ein austleg hage: hundre Haiku-dikt (Leaves from an Eastern Garden: A Hundred Haiku). Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1965.
Ebu: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2006.
Hk: Beilenson, Peter, tr. Japanese Haiku. New York: Peter Pauper Press, 1955.
Jap: Bownas, Geoffrey and Thwaite, Anthony: Japanese Verse. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964.
Vin: Dørumsgaard, Arne,: Vinger i natten: Buson i norsk gjendiktning (1716-1783). Oslo: Dreyer, 1985.
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