Carpe Diem Ask Jane #14 ... Tanka Tale

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It has been a while ago, but I have a nice new episode of Carpe Diem Ask Jane. In this special feature, for those who are new here, Jane Reichhold, renowned haiku poetess and advisor and co-host of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, answers questions about haiku, tanka, haibun and all other Japanese poetry forms.

Todays question came from Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet) and the question was about haibun and tanka. Here is her question described in my words:

Recently one of the 'members' of Carpe Diem responded on a prompt with, what she called 'tanka-prose', a haibun with tanka instead of haiku. I really was surprised as I read her 'tanka-prose'. Do you know if that's a common use in haibun? As I read her response on my comment I immediately thought at the 'Tale of Genji'. Can I say that the 'Tale of Genji' is tanka (waka) prose? 

A nice question I would say. Here is an example of "tanka-prose" (found on haibun today): 

Eucalyptus (Dutch website)

 Eucalyptus

Waking up each morning, through the bedroom window we see the tall white manna gum Eucalyptus mannifera over the back fence. Often the rising sun kisses its topmost branches, and gradually fills the whole tree with sunlight, irradiating the new day that has just begun with an act of love . . .

my head
on your shoulder
afterwards
opening my eyes
sunlight and manna gum

© Gerry Jacobson (Canberra, Capital Territory, Australia)
Published in: Haibun Today, Volume 4, Number 4, December 2010

And here is Jane's response on the above question:

Am sending you a quick answer, not taking the time to check the dates but to let you know tanka combined with prose has been written for over 15 years. I just found my book-length piece you can read for free at:

http://www.ahapoetry.com/heralone.htm

that was written in 2002 and the practice was established by then. Old issues of Lynx carried the both haibun and tanka and prose in nearly every online issue.

http://www.ahapoetry.com/ahalynx/291HMPG.html  Look on the lowest left side of the home page for links to back issue.

You are right that The Tale of Genji is the most famous Japanese example with over 900 tanka in the whole collection of chapter. But the travel and diaries are also excellent reading.

The most interesting thing (to me) is the problem of what to call this style of writing in English or any language. The Japanese seems to have not had a specific term for adding tanka to their creation stories and other historical recordings because they did it so much it just was. It was Basho who borrowed the idea and named his works, in which he added hokku instead of tanka, so he name it 'haibun.' The "hai" had all the possible meanings it does in the word 'haiku' and "bun" is literature or writings. People have tried "tanbun" which means in Japanese "short writings" or literature and does not feel right. Tanka prose sits poorly with many English writers as tanka is poetry and prose is prose. My current favorite is "tanka tales" or "tanka stories" to honor the original Japanese use of tanka with their stories or tales.

Since we are basically making this up as we go, it seems the same 'rules' for haibun apply to tanka tales also. With tanka, and its subjectivity, it works well to use tanka to add feelings or memories to the stories. This is something that is not easily done with all prose without asides or footnotes, but I feel offers exciting facets to fit in with the subject matter.

This is another arrow in our quivers!

\o/ Jane

Jane Reichhold

 

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 Well ... I hope you did like this episode of Ask Jane.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille
 

Carpe Diem Ask Jane ... #13 Haibun

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Recently Carol Campbell of "WritersDream9" asked me if haibun is only a journal of a journey. I couldn't really gave the right answer so I asked Jane about it. This question resulted in the following episode of "Ask Jane ...".

Here is the question I formulated:

I know that haibun is a diary about a journey in which prose and poetry are entwined, but if I write a post and include haiku in it or a short story (not about a journey) with haiku in it ... can i still call it haibun ?

And what follows is Jane's answer.

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Dear Kristjaan,

I think you can call it anything you want. If you add a haiku to a letter you can call it "love" in my book. It all did start, as you said, by Japanese taking trips and when making notes of what they saw or experienced and adding a TANKA they had written on the spot. There was no special name for the practice because it was so common. Then Basho adopted the idea for his travels but because he felt his hokku were better than his tanka, he added them to his travel journals and gave the works the name haibun, as you know it. It is mostly English writers who have widened the concept of the prose part to include letters and any prose writing. The Japanese do have a history of combining TANKA with stories (as in their historical works) but again there was no special Japanese word (that I know of) for this practice. It is just how it was done. Thus we are stuck with using 'haibun' for prose works with haiku as part of them but we have no term for prose works with tanka. Some of us are pushing to use 'tanka stories'  or 'tanka tales' for prose with tanka to honor The Tale of Genji which contains over 930 tanka in the whole work.

Jane Reichhold

 

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Haibun ... I love writing them. I even created a special feature here at our Haiku Kai ... Kamishibai.
What are your thoughts about haibun? Share them with us here in the comment-field.
I love to thank Jane Reichhold for sharing her knowledge with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host

Carpe Diem Ask Jane #12 Extra on tanka

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Last week I published a new episode of our "Ask Jane" feature. That episode was about tanka and the question which I had for Jane was based on a question by Jen of Blog It or Lose It. That question I will reproduce here including the answer of Jane.

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Dear Kristjaan,

I hope you don't mind my email.

At my "doves" blog I've been writing a lot of tanka.  Mostly sensual / erotic in nature. It's a form that I really enjoy. After Jane Reichhold mentioned Akiko Yosano's Girl with Tangled Hai" I started to read that book and have fallen in love with her writing.Do you think Jane would be able to recommend some additional female tanka writers?  I'd like to learn more.  Would you be able to pass my message on to her?

I would appreciate the help, if you have the time.

Jen

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Jane Reichhold

Dear Jen,

I am glad you are as delighted with Akiko Yosano's tanka as I have been and that you are following in her footsteps by writing your own erotic and sensual tanka. You must remember that Yosano's fame rests on the fact that she was able to write tanka in which she was honest and faithful to her feelings, even when they were sexual. This was very new in 1902 in Japan. Afterwards other women followed her example and also then became famous.

I have translated four of them:

White Letter Poems by Fumi Saito. (a lot is about being a woman in war and chaos)

Breasts of Snow by Fumiko Nakajo  (about her bouts with breast cancer with great honestly)

Heavenly Maiden Tanka by Akiko Baba (a living tanka writer and how she navigates modern life)

These are the four most famous Japanese tanka writers (including Akiko Yosano) of the 1900s.

As you know The Tale of Genji was written 1000 years ago but still has some of the best tanka by a Japanese woman!

I did translate A String of Flowers Untied -Tale of Genji Love Tanka by Murasaki Shikibu because I love her tanka. Or you can read a translation of The Tale of Genji although both Seidenstricker and Royal Tyler put the tanka in three lines (again confused with haiku!).

Another woman who made a sensation in Japan in the 1980s was Machiko Tawara with her book Salad Anniversary. Sadly the most available translation, from Kodansha, by Juliet Carpenter puts the tanka in 3 lines! making them look and sound like haiku because she confuses the two genres. Jack Stamm did a much better job with his translation but this too is out of print. For years I sold Jack's book until there were no more. Good luck finding copies!

Any translations of female Japanese writers will broaden your view of tanka and every woman (and everyone!)  is different.

The best translations of all historical Japanese tanka, male and female is in Alan Cranston's A Waka Anthology. There are two volumes. The first one is The Gem-Glistening Cup and the second one I cannot find in my library, but these books are very expensive. With more time in my library I would find other translations of older Japanese tanka by both sexes so if you want to compare you could. Otherwise, just enjoy whatever comes into your hands!

Let me know if I should dig deeper!

\o/ Jane

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I hope you did like this Extra episode of "Ask Jane".

Carpe Diem Ask Jane # 11 Male and female emotions in haiku and tanka

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's a while ago that I published an episode of Ask Jane and this episode is about tanka. I asked Jane about tanka 'triggered' by a question of Jen (blog it or lose it).

Here is my question:

Tanka is mostly love poetry, but as I read tanka by female or male poets I sense a little difference in emotions. Those differences I also detect in haiku. Is it possible that tanka or haiku are that different in emotions comparing female and male poets?

And this is her answer on my question:

Tanka is mostly love poetry, but as I read tanka by female or male poets I sense a little difference in emotions. Those differences I also detect in haiku. Is it possible that tanka or haiku are that different in emotions comparing female and male poets?

Jane Reichhold

For a while we considered haiku as 'male' and tanka as 'female' poetry forms. It is true for Japan that all of their famous writers of tanka were women (even though some males have occasionally championed some male in their own circles) and we have only Chiyo Ni as one famous Japanese haiku writer among all those haiku masters - so that tells you something. I find it interesting that it is male writers who make the rules for tanka writing, but it IS the women who use the form best (at least in Japan). In the past 15 years, however, in English, many men have gotten in touch with their female sides (or access their emotions more easily) so this is changing. Also it used to be that haiku were mostly centered on events or things of nature but also in recent English haiku history, more and more the haiku have centered on humans and their relationship to nature - a facet of poetry that was entirely tanka-like but the division between the two forms is blurring for us due to this change. I do feel there should be a difference to haiku and tanka other than the number of lines. When I judge a haiku contest I take out all the haiku that focus on people and what they do or think or feel as much as I can as I feel this inspiration belongs in a tanka. The opposite is also true. When I read a tanka that only draws a picture (all the parts of the tanka are about the event or picture) I see it as an elongated haiku. If there is a switch from describing a fact of nature to one of persons or their feelings in  1/2 the lines, then this is tanka no matter how long or short the poem. I feel it is a misconception to think of tanka as only 'love poetry' because  tanka also includes all human emotions, excluding only hate and violence. I do think that any feeling we humans have belongs in tanka. Probably even the violent and hateful stuff although I know I do not enjoy reading poetry (which traditionally is the best of our lives) on those subjects. Also when one uses the English term 'love poetry' it usually implies the lust between lovers, but our "loves" cover many subjects and territory beyond that. The Japanese allowed themselves to handle only certain aspects of lover love poetry - like missing a lover, hoping to find one, and less about the mechanics of love-making as you well know. Let me know if I missed answering what you need to know.

Warm greetings Jane

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A wonderful answer ... Thank you Jane for answering my question. As a kind of thank you gift to you, dear Jane ... a tanka:

crystal cobweb
sparkles in the early sun
dewdrops vaporize
just a little while
I felt a rich haiku poet

© Chèvrefeuille

Carpe Diem Ask Jane #10, 5-7-5

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It has been a while ago that we had an episode of our "Ask Jane" feature, but I had the idea that it was worth asking Jane about the 5-7-5 discussion we have had in our last GW-post. So I have asked Jane about the 5-7-5 syllables count in haiku. And here is her answer.

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Dear Jane,

As you maybe have seen we have a discussion at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai about the syllables count in haiku (and tanka). Would you please tell us something more about this "rule" for haiku (and tanka). How came this syllables count into haiku and tanka, is it that strict to follow it?

As you know I am not a big fan of the counting of syllables, because I think that the 5-7-5 and the 5-7-5-7-7 onji, as used in the classical Japanese poems can't be used in Western haiku and tanka.

I am looking forward to your answer.

Namaste,

Kristjaan

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Dear Kristjaan.

I think the 5 - 7 - 5 rule becomes a problem when one adopts this as a rule. When the haiku, or tanka comes to mind, we are used to checking to see if the line is too long and if it is, finding shorter, or less, words. This is a good use of the rule in my opinion. However when one begins to add words to make a line have five or seven syllables, the poem often becomes what has been called "padded" - words or even ideas are added just to make the line have a certain number of syllables. This practice causes the poems to feel artificial or to contain too much information.

We need to keep in mind that our syllables, in Dutch or English, are longer than the Japanese sound units by about 1/3. When we use 17 syllables in our poems it is almost impossible to get all that information into 17 sound units of Japanese. If we wish for our haiku to be more like the Japanese, we need to use fewer syllables in our language. When we add syllables, to make a poem have 17 syllables, it is even worse and harder to translate into another language.

I think it is best if one tries this for one's self on your own haiku that seem less than perfect to you. Try taking words out of your poem, to say what you are thinking more simply, to be more direct with common words on one subject. Remember that if you are following the 5 - 7 - 5 rule YOU have made this rule and it is a good thing to give yourself permission to break it. Try writing haiku with as few words as possible and still keep your original thought. You will know when it feels right.

I hope this helps.

Jane

Jane Reichhold

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As I stated in the last GW-post "feel free to use the 5-7-5 rule, but try some times to break it".

Do you have a question for Jane? Than please feel free to email your question to our Ask Jane email-address:

carpediemhaikukaiaskjane@gmail.com

Have a great week!

Carpe Diem Extra 2015-7 reminder

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As you all know Jane Reichhold is one of our (a kind of) co-hosts here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. She has her own feature "Carpe Diem's Ask Jane ..." and so it's possible to ask questions about haiku, tanka, renga and all other things according to our beloved haiku.

For those questions I have created a special emailaddress and if you email your question I will send them to Jane to answer them. Do you have questions for Jane? Please feel free to ask them.

You can email your questions to:

carpediemhaikukaiaskjane@gmail.com

Feel free ...

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host.

Carpe Diem Ask Jane #9, translating haiku

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As you all maybe know ... sometimes I try to translate haiku into another language than the original, but one way or another those translations are always not strong enough or the "painted" scene with its deeper meaning is lost. So I have asked Jane a question about translating haiku.

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Dear Jane,

How are you? I hope you are well and that your health has become better. I have a question for you about "translating haiku".

I started writing/composing haiku in Dutch at the end of the eighties. Somewhere in 2005 I wrote my first haiku in English:

a lonely flower
my companion
for one night

A strong haiku I think with a very deep meaning, but as I tried to translate it to Dutch the essence which I caught in the English version I couldn't catch. The scene stayed the same, but the deeper layer I couldn't find ... I think this has to do with the deeper meaning of English words and the differences in that meaning in Dutch. 

Is it possible to translate haiku into another language than its original and catch that same feeling or deeper meaning?

frogpond

I have read a lot of haiku since I discovered this wonderful poetry form. And for example I ran into several translations of Basho's famous "frogpond haiku":

furu ike ya  kawazu tobikomu  mizu no oto (1686)

an ancient pond
a frog jumps in
the splash of water

I don't know who the translator was, but I found another translation of this famous haiku:

A lonely pond in age-old stillness sleeps . . .
Apart, unstirred by sound or motion . . . till
Suddenly into it a lithe frog leaps

Translated by Curtis Hidden Page

These translations are so different, but the essence of the haiku is lost in that second haiku in my opinion of course. I once tried to translate it myself and I came up with the following:

old pond -
the sound of water resonates
as a frog jumps in

© Kristjaan Panneman (a.k.a. Chèvrefeuille)

Why is it so difficult to translate haiku? In my opinion I think this has to do with the Japanese language. It's very clear that Japanese works with sound units (onji), but the characters can mean a lot too.

In short:

Why is it so difficult to translate haiku from the one language to the other language without loosing the essence of the original?

I hope you can give us at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai some insight in translating haiku and how to catch the essence ...

Warm greetings,

Kristjaan

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Dear Kristjaan,

Well you have jumped into a can of worms with translations! I think the biggest mistake translators make is adding words that are not in the original  text in an attempt to convey the levels of meaning the original has for them. This suavely cripples that translation. Do you have a copy of my book, Basho's Complete Haiku? In the notes at the end I give word-for-word translations of all of Basho's hokku. There you can see the word 'resonance' is not in the original.

(I am sorry! I tried to copy your version from your letter and my d--- computer lost the copy!) But you did add the word that spoils the translation (IMO).

I truly feel that as a translator, word-for-word translations are the kindest way to handle the work. If one wants to say more or show layers one finds in a haiku, then do that in a discussion of the poem and not in the translation.

A Lonely Flower

In your

a lonely flower
my companion
for one night

I would question the use of "lonely"  - that is a human feeling you are giving to a thing. You may feel lonely when there is only one of you (do you?) but the flower is not alone if you are there!

a single flower
my companion
for one night

or

a single tulip
my companion
for one night

has more connotations. . . even some sexual with single / unmarried and tulip / two lipped!  I hope this helps!

\o/ Jane

Jane Reichhold

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Thank you Jane for this wonderful and clear explanation of my question. Thank you for your kind words and a special thank you for you for the "re-write" of my haiku  as you have done. With the explanation you have given I think my "lonely flower" has become now "a single flower". 

Dear Haijin I think you all have ideas about translating haiku. Please respond in the comments field with your ideas about translating haiku. Maybe I can create a nice feature around translating haiku.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host

Carpe Diem Ask Jane #8, Is tanka another name for waka or are these two different forms?

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Not so long ago Gillena emailed a question for Jane and with this episode of "Ask Jane" I present that question by Gillena. By the way Jane has become 78 last Saturday and I have send her our love and congratulations with her birthday.

Waka (literally "Japanese poem") or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. The term was coined during the Heian period, and was used to distinguish Japanese-language poetry from kanshi  (poetry written in Chinese by Japanese poets), and later from renga.

The term waka originally encompassed a number of differing forms, principally tanka ("short poem") and chōka ("long poem"), but also including bussokusekika, sedōka ("whirling head poem") and katauta ("poem fragment"). These last three forms, however, fell into disuse at the beginning of the Heian period, and chōka vanished soon afterwards. Thus, the term waka came in time to refer only to tanka.

Japanese poet and critic Masaoka Shiki created the term tanka in the early twentieth century for his statement that waka should be renewed and modernized. Until then, poems of this nature had been referred to as waka or simply uta ("song, poem"). Haiku is also a term of his invention, used for his revision of standalone hokku, with the same idea.

Traditionally waka in general has had no concept of rhyme (indeed, certain arrangements of rhymes, even accidental, were considered dire faults in a poem), or even of line. Instead of lines, waka has the unit  and the phrase. 

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Dear Jane,

Is tanka another name for waka or are these two different forms?

Gillena Cox

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Dear Gillena,

It is good to see you here in Holland on Carpe Diem! Thanks for the question.

Yes waka and tanka are basically the very same form. In the Japanese passion for giving a thing various names at various times, and since we in English have borrowed the Japanese terms, we are stuck with this problem.

In the very beginning poems in the tanka form were called “uta” or songs and occasionally even this word is still used. I found Akiko Yosano writing in Japan in 1901 did this. Also Jim Wilson, an American in California, in his books of tanka, composes music that can be used to sing or accompany any of his tanka. This is possible because he uses a strict syllable count.

When the Japanese began to compose other song forms (in the 800 CE) they changed the name from uta to waka.  Waka has remained in use up until today when both waka and tanka are employed for the same form. Whenever the court world of Japan refers to the form they use the older world of waka. Most modern Japanese, when speaking of the form and the poems, use the word tanka which translates to “short poem or song or elegance.”  Thus it is possible to hear all three terms used to indicate the same thing. I hope this gives you courage to write down whatever you are feeling in poetry!

Jane

Jane Reichhold

PS.: I (your host) will include a waka by Ariwara no Motokata

Within the year
Spring has come again;
The one year:
What should I say: that it's last year,

Or that it's the year to come?

As you can see, Waka follows the same form as Tanka.

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I hope you did like this episode of "Ask Jane". Do you have a question for Jane? Than please feel free to email your question to:

carpediemhaikukaiaskjane@gmail.com

I will take care that your question will be brought under the attention of Jane.

Carpe Diem's "Ask Jane ..." #7, Tanka, the grandmother of Haiku

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to present to you all a new episode of our special feature "Ask Jane ..." As you all know Jane (Reichhold) has some problems with her health and so she couldn't write earlier a new episode of this special feature. Jane and I have contact on a regular base by mail and she wishes you all a wonderful, creative and inspiring 2015. She hopes to write a new episode for "Ask Jane ..." and asks you to think about questions you have about haiku and tanka. As you all know we have a special email-address for these questions. You can email your questions for Jane to: carpediemhaikukaiaskjane@gmail.com

This episode of "Ask Jane ..." is about Tanka, the grandmother of Haiku. This episode saw the life light in response on a question by Jen of Blog It or Lose It. As you all know I am not a big fan of Tanka, but this episode is very uplifting and maybe I will become addicted to Tanka also ... time will see ...

Have fun reading this episode and maybe you can share a Tanka in the comments field.

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Dear Jane,

If I recall correctly, the middle line of the Tanka is the bridge, and it should link the first two lines to the last two lines -- and act as a pivot point.  When I write haiku I *try* to make the first and third lines interchangeable.  When I write a Tanka do I need to make the third and fifth lines interchangeable as well?  Should I be looking at Tanka as something similar to two "linked haiku" -- with the second "semi-haiku" expanding and broadening the first haiku - or is that completely wrong?

Jen Rosenberry

Jane Reichhold

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Dear Jen,

You are right with all you say about the haiku and the middle line in a Tanka. Thank you for reminding us all of these ideas and practices.

However Tanka is a very different form. Remember Tanka is the grandmother of haiku so it is built on other far different patterns. In Tanka the second and fourth or fifth lines should NOT be interchangeable as they are in the haiku. Also, the added two lines of a Tanka should NOT be used to expand the thinking in the top part of the poem.

Tanka is in its strictest, traditional sense, a comparison of some fact found in nature and the feelings of the poet. The oldest, most common example is: it is raining so in my sadness I feel tears on my cheeks. Thus the poet recognizes a feeling or emotional state in the second half of the poem. These feelings often do not have proper names other than the overused love, sadness, and loneliness. However, the Japanese recognized that the way the poet experiences these well-known states often have variations but no one word can express them.

Thus they find a situation in nature that everyone recognizes to compare with what they are feeling that they want to express in a Tanka. Maybe it is too much rain ( making floods) and they are feeling such an overwhelming loss that they are feeling closer to a flood than just rain drops. Here the upper part of the Tanka either expressed the nature feature or the emotional feeling, has a pivot to swing the thinking in another direction, and then states the other corresponding thought.

In modern, and here I mean mostly English Language Tanka, the traditional idea, as above, has been lost. Often the poet uses the upper two lines to state a human situation, uses the third line as pivot, and turns the poem around to state how the situation makes them feel. This ‘turning’ or ‘switch’ in the Tanka is so important that Tanka teachers often say for a poem to really be a Tanka it must make this change in at least one of three ways.

1. A change of voice. If the upper portion of the poem is written in the first person (I did this) the lower lines must indicate a change in who is speaking. Sometimes it will be stated as “folks have said” or “my friend believes . . .” to accomplish this.

2. A change in place. If the upper part of the poem took place in the garden, then the lower part would show how the poet is in a different room, city, community, culture or place is feeling.

3. A change of time. This is facet most often (overused?) in English language Tanka by stating a situation and then remembering how it used to be in childhood or when love was new. The poet’s life is used as a time span so the poem hops from one time to another. Often this is a lament – which brings me to another facet of Tanka.

Tanka is sometimes designated as “love poetry.” This is partly the result of  over 1400 years of the Japanese using Tanka to state how they felt about someone or something they loved. The other side of this coin is missing the loved person or thing which also prepares Tanka to express laments. Since the Japanese feel love that is longed for is more proper and sedate than the actual being together of the lovers (doing God knows what but probably scaring the horses) the actual reference to sexual things was often deemed to unrefined, common, dirty and you know the rest, for something as elevated and refined as poetry. However, the female Japanese poets of the last century who ignored this rule became the most famous. Go figure.

The leader of the pack was Akiko Yosano. My last book, done with Machiko Kobayashi, A Girl with Tangled Hair brings, for the first time in English, all of Akiko’s Tanka (399) in her most famous book Midaregami published in 1901. This book not only changed how the subject for Tanka could be enlarged (pun intended), but a more honest stating of what the poetess was feeling that continued and influences all of Japan’s literature. Still Akiko Yosano and Machi Taware (Salad Anniversary) worked and wrote their Tanka in very traditional ways. Thus to study either can sharpen our Tanka skills while benefiting from their new and ‘modern’ choice of subject matter.

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I hope you did like the read and that it maybe inspired you to write Tanka or maybe try it for the very first time. I have tried it myself and this is the result:

departing geese
King Winter is on his way
snow and frost will come
cherry blossoms bloom again
the sound of geese returning back

© Chèvrefeuille

No I am kidding ... I have written this Tanka January 2014 as part of an episode of our Tanka Shrine feature.

Well ... see you ...

Carpe Diem "Ask Jane ..." #6, Basho's Kanshicho-style (1683-1685)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to publish a new episode of our "Ask Jane ..." feature and this time the question is brought up by myself. As you maybe know I am a big fan of Basho, but I am even more a big fan of his so called Kanshicho-style haiku in which he didn't use the 5-7-5 rule. I discovered this style in the preface of a haiku-anthology compiled by Henri Kerlen, a Dutch Sinologist and Japan expert, titled "Het geluid van water" or in English "the sound of water". In the preface of this anthology Kerlen describes the Kanshicho-style, a style in which Basho wrote his haiku several years as a response on the Danrin-school.
As I started my friendship with Jane Reichhold, back in 2013, I asked her about this Kanshicho-style and that same question I have asked her again several weeks ago. In this episode of "Ask Jane ..." she will respond on that question.
At first I thought I will not publish it, because in a way ... I like the Kanshicho-style ... but it turned out to be a hoax according to Jane. Jane and I have corresponded on this and for this "Ask Jane ..." episode I have chosen to re-produce our correspondence about Kanshicho-styled haiku.

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Dear Jane,

As we started our friendship back in 2013 I ask you a few questions in my first e-mail to you. I can recall that I also asked you if you were familiar with the "Kanshicho"-style of haiku writing. I remember that you told me that you had never heard of this haiku-style in which Basho wrote from 1683-1685, but that you thought it was "haiku-writing in the way of the Chinese poetry".
In this Kanshicho-style the strict sound-units count 5-7-5 isn't used.

Can you tell us what the connection is between the Chinese poetry and the Japanese (classical) haiku? I know for example that Basho would have been to China and that he was influenced by the Chinese poetry as we also can read in several of his haiku.

Looking forward to your answer.

Kristjaan

Matsuo Basho, my master

Dear Kristjaan.

Your question has taken more time to find a correct answer! Thanks for being so patient. I could not find anything in all my books on Basho about him making a trip to China nor could I find anything about the word Kanshicho in his works. So I did a web a web search and found only one place where any of this is mentioned – on a website blog run by someone named Atkins. This made me ask a Chinese friend if there was any information in Chinese of a trip by Basho to China. He said there was nothing in Chinese on the subject and that in Chinese there is no reference to the word Kanshicho.

So this brings me to the idea that this is one of those internet legends. Someone has started a story that is completely false and others, reading his work, has taken his words to be a truth. In fact, everything this Atkins fellow has written is only his fantasy. I am sorry you have been taken in by it. By carrying this information on your site, too, you are giving credit to his false theory. I think it is time to say the truth and to clear up this wrong information on the web. I am sorry to be the bearer of this bad news.

I will leave it up to you whether you use my letter answer to “Ask Jane” and what you chose to do about the situation.

Blessings on all your endeavors!

\o/ Jane

Dear Jane,

Henri Kerlen, a Dutch researcher, has written a anthology of haiku by Basho (in Dutch: Geluid van Water; Tr.: Sound of Water) and in his preface to that anthology he mentioned the Kanshicho-style. Kerlen, a Sinologist and Japan expert, studied at the university of Leiden (The Netherlands) and in Beijing tells us in that same preface that Basho used this style from 1683-1685, but returned to the classical 5-7-5 idea after those years. he even re-wrote haiku from his Kanshicho-style time to the classical style. It's in that anthology's preface that I discovered the Kanshicho-style in which I write the main part of my haiku.

Thank you by the way for your answer and I will publish it later on this week at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

Kristjaan

Dear Kristjaan.

I did some research on Henri Kerlen on the web. I found he was born in Minnesota in USA in 1883! Do you have any of his books written in Dutch or English? I tried to find one I could buy but they are all listed as being not available.  This is slightly suspicious. Can you correspond with him in Dutch (if he is Dutch?) Or do you have a copy of the book you got your information from? Or can you give me a web site? I still think his information is not correct, but it can be that he published one of his books with this idea in it and thus you found it in a reputable place.

I am totally mystified on the whole subject. but am very eager to find out what is going on. Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated!

\o/ Jane

Dear Jane,

I haven't a spare copy, but I can scan the preface (in Dutch) if you want to have it? It's published by Kairos, a Dutch publisher. It's in the above mentioned preface that I read this "Kanshicho"-styled haiku by Basho.

Kristjaan

PS. Ihave found their website: http://www.amerigo.nl/uitgeverij/kairos/kairos.html The Basho haiku are now titled "Een kikker springt" or in English "A frog jumps".

Henri Kerlen has also translated haiku by Issa, Buson and Shiki into Dutch.

Dear Kristjaan,

Thanks for the offer, but my Dutch is hardly worth the effort. Knowing you have a book with this information in it is enough for me.

My problem with the whole situation is the fact that you are accepting this one book as factual when everyone else believes something else. I am not out to get you to change your mind. You can believe what you want to believe.

Do you really wish to discuss this situation with me in public? That is up to you. You can do with my answer whatever feels right to you. I am okay with you dropping the subject and my answer. Do whatever you feel is best for yourself and other haiku writers. How important is this idea that Basho went to China to helping people write good haiku 400 years later? Will understanding of the word "Kacnshicho" help any of us write better haiku?

\o/ Jane

Dear Jane,

I think I will bring this question up on our weblog. Just to open up the discussion. And ... it makes no difference to me if the Kanshicho-style isn't that clear. I like the way of the "so called" Kanshicho-style .... maybe I can bring it up as an idea of my own ... to make haiku even better ....

I will give it a thought ....

Thank you Jane for answering my question ....

Kristjaan

Jane Reichhold

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Well ... it was quit a ride on this Kanshicho-style, but I will remain writing in that style ... I recently read the earlier mentioned anthology by Henri Kerlen again and I still think that Basho has written in that Kanshicho-style, but maybe the name "Kanshicho" is an idea of Henri Kerlen.

From the preface of that anthology I have translated a few quotes:

[...] "Basho himself was several years a disciple/student of Teitoku's disciple, Kitamura Kigin (1624-1705), but after a while he (Basho) became a student of Soin in 1675. Soin has different ideas about renga and one of his ideas is to write the chains by association of meaning, kokorozuke. His (Soin) poetry style means for haiku more simplification and letting go of the 5-7-5 rule. The theme's and language of Soin's poetry is of the people. [...]

[...[ "In response of this change in haiku-poetry Basho and others introduce the Kanshicho: in the tone of the Chinese verse. In Kanshicho the breaking of the 5-7-5 rule is no exception. Basho uses this Kanshicho-style during the years 1683-1685 as he lives as a recluse in Fukagawa. Basho's Kanshicho-style is prominent in an anthology compiled by Kikaku "An Empty Chestnut" (1683). The Kanshicho-style disappears after three years (1685) and Basho re-writes several Kanshicho-styled haiku into the classical way. [...]

As is said above ... maybe Kanshicho is a hoax, but ... well I like that style nevertheless if it is a hoax or not. In a way I think that our Western haiku are all in the way of Soin's or Basho's Kanshicho-style. The Western languages aren't compatible with the 5-7-5 onji (sounds) and therefore we have chosen to use syllables, but ... is counting syllables what haiku is?

I really am glad that Jane has answered my question about Kanshicho and of course I feel sad that my beloved Kanshicho-style turned out to be a hoax, but ... well ... haiku writing/composing is fun and gives me the freedom to share my ideas, feelings and thoughts and that's the most important thing (to me) of haiku ...

To close this episode I love to share another haiku (in Kanshicho-style) which I wrote after Jane's answer:

tears fall
on an empty sheet of paper 
a new day rises

© Chèvrefeuille

PS. Do you have a question for Jane Reichhold? Please email them to our special emailaddress:

carpediemhaikukaiaskjane@gmail.com

and I will take care that your questions will forwarded to Jane. She is the best and I am glad that Jane hosts this "Ask Jane ..." feature. Jane ... thank you from the bottom of my heart that you are part of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, your work for our haiku-community is very much appreciated.

Kristjaan