Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
It's my pleasure to bring another wonderful episode of Carpe Diem's On The Trail With Basho in which we are following Basho in his footsteps. Today's episode a clam is about the last haiku in his Oku no Hosomichi and I love this haiku a lot.
hamaguri no
futami ni wakare yuku aki zo
a clamtorn from its shell
departing autumn
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
This is the last verse in Basho's 'Oku no Hosomichi' 'The Narrow Road to the Far
North'. Because there are several word plays at work here, the Japanese
maintain that there is no way for the poem to be rendered into another
language. So here goes: hama (beach); hamaguri (a clam) however 'guri' is also
(a chestnut) or (a pebble). And that is only the first line! 'Futami' (place
name of the port where the famous Wedded Rocks (two large rocks considered to
'married' which are considered to be sacred) are such an attraction) is made up
of the words 'futa' (lid, cover, shell) and 'mu' (body, meat, fruit, nut,
berry, seed, substance, contents). The word 'wakare' can be either (to part or
to split) or (to leave). Added to the last line (departing autumn) 'wakare' can
mean either that it is autumn which is leaving or a person who is departing. In
Ogaki, Basho was met by many of his disciples, including Sora who rejoined him,
for the end of the trip back to Tokyo. This verse, and the second one in 'Oku
no Hosomichi' are considered the 'book-ends' of the work with partings of
Spring and Autumn.
Awesome!
Isn't it! This haiku is a masterpiece. |
| Wedded Rocks |
a pebble-stone
taken from the Wedded Rocks
a farewell gift
autumn has gone
the only thing that remains
a chestnut
a jackstone
broken of the Married Rocks
a farewell gift
 |
| Wedded Rocks (at sunset) |
fallen into the grass
departing autumn
on the seashore
the shell of a hermit crab
abandoned
© Chèvrefeuille
Well ... it
wasn't easy, but I think I did well. Are these my masterpieces? Or in Basho's
Spirit? I don't know. You, my dear readers, may tell me.
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until May 27th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, wrapped in a straw mat, later on.
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until May 27th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, wrapped in a straw mat, later on.
