…It is important for your spirit to be elevated in the world of true understanding, while not forgetting the value of what is ordinary. Always seek the truth of beauty, always return to the world of ordinary experience… Basho
Haiku poetry, like other aspects of Japanese culture, is deeply infused with Zen. What is Zen? An old poem says:
If we look for it, we cannot see it;
If we listen for it, we cannot hear it.
But if we use it, it is inexhaustible.
Could this also be the answer to the question: What is life? In the works of Japanese artists, including haiku poets, it is almost impossible to determine the boundary between art and life, art and nature. Nature is precisely what the haiku poet starts from and ultimately returns to. It is an endless source, a wellspring of inspiration, motifs, and also the place of ultimate peace, tranquility, happiness.
It is not so much in the flower
as in the nose:
the scent.
Moritake
The fallen flower
has it returned to the branch?
– No, it’s a butterfly!
Moritake
In the water… i početak proljeća – vidljivi znakovi novog života. Haiku pjesnici koriste prirodne motive kako bi izrazili sklad, jedinstvenost i tajnu postojanja. Oni ne opisuju, već bilježe trenutne utiske i ostavljaju prostor čitatelju da dovrši sliku. Haiku je umjetnost koja jednostavno prikazuje prirodu, bez patetike ili pretjerivanja. Svaki element, bio velik ili mali, ima jednaku važnost. Živjeti prirodno znači koristiti ove elemente kao osnovu za gradnju vlastitog života. oh either usual or unusual. Everything has its place, its moment.
Recognizing the uniqueness of a phenomenon, a being, an event or a moment, the poet “captures” it, placing it in words, while carefully ensuring not to disturb its beauty in any way, so that for a moment, with gratitude and respect, they “release” it to continue its journey.
It reminds us of the skill of catching a butterfly, being careful not to damage its wings. For a moment it is on our hand, we are enchanted by its beauty, but the butterfly flies away in an instant. And we continue on our way, enriched.
Among the flowers:
the laughter of people can be heard –
spring hills.
Bôitsu
Add a handle
to the Moon – you’ll get
a good fan.
Sôkan
By the hedge
– if you look carefully:
blossom of groundsel!
Bashô
The greatest Japanese haiku poets are considered to be Bashô, Buson, Issa, and Shiki. According to our greatest Japanologist, Vladimir Devidé, in terms of inspiration and atmosphere that permeates their poems: Bashô is religious, Buson is a painter, Issa is a humanitarian, … a Shiki, the last of these four, a brilliant artist…
Matsuo Bashô (1644-1694), known as the “Asian troubadour of nature,” was a samurai from Ueno. He wrote his greatest works in the last ten years of his life, and many agree that he elevated haiku to the level of a first-class art, a height that no one before or since has reached.
Here comes spring:
an unnamed hill
in the morning mist.
Even without a hat
in this pouring rain
– all is well, all is well.
An ancient pond…
a frog jumps in
– the sound of water.
Weary, I arrived
in search of lodging –
the bloom of the wisteria!
The landscape of spring
is just being prepared:
Moon; plum blossoms.
On a bare branch
a raven perches, huddled
– autumn twilight.
The bell fades away;
the fragrance of blossoms
spreads – evening.
Sick on the road –
my dreams wander
through withered fields.
(Bashô’s last haiku)
Buson (Yosa Buson, 1716-1783)
A temple in the mountains –
the sound of a struck bell
vanishes in the mist.
For me, I’m leaving,
for you who stay –
two autumns.
Amidst spring rain,
flows
a great river.
“Shelter!” –
he shouted, throwing away his sword.
Snowstorm.
A flash of lightning –
the sound of raindrops on
bamboo leaves.
In summer, the river:
what happiness – crossing the water
with sandals in hand.
Man picking radishes,
holding the radish in his hand,
shows the way.
Look at the nightingale!
Drenched in rain,
its morning voice.
Autumn wind –
the mountain’s shadow
trembles.
Plum blossoms
sing with nightingales –
but I am alone.
By the porch,
a willow tree gently sways,
benignly.
Among the grass,
a flower of unknown name
blooms white.
Boat, shore:
between them a willow –
we say goodbye.
One after another,
people rest on this stone –
barren field; summer.
Evening breeze –
all rose petals
tremble, sway.
In an abandoned
boat, hail
drums.
Not yet ten years old:
child entrusted to the temple.
Bitter winter.
The light in the neighboring room also goes out – the coldness of the night.
According to the recommendations of ancient Japanese masters, the same haiku should be read multiple times because with each repeated reading, we will find new experiences in it.
Haiku invites us to pay attention to what we usually “fly past”, what we consider the backdrop of life and only notice the emptiness when it disappears. The haiku poet always leaves room for the reader, inviting them to participate unobtrusively, as if someone in the movie of life stops a frame and says: Look! This is also important, and in this, the great mystery of Life lives…
Poetry is often called the “music of the soul”. The human soul recognizes this music, it doesn’t need a translator. It also knows no boundaries, no sides of the world. Therefore, no matter how Japanese haiku poetry is, its message is universal and can be an inspiration to anyone seeking a more natural way of life.
The wind brings
enough dry leaves
to fuel the fire.
Ryôkan
Water that comes
Cleanses water that goes –
Pleasant freshness.