“A brilliant book. These clear-water poems and their accompanying insightful c commentaries enlighten both scholar and poet. Reading them, I am transport- A R ed back across centuries to repeatedly savor the hokku’s capacity to capture and t illuminate the ongoing and inevitable fusion of our lives with the natural world.” e R Penny HARteR, coauthor of the The Haiku Handbook and Haiku author of Recycling Starlight and The Night Marsh H WHIle tHe RIse of tHe cHARmIngly sImPle, brilliantly evocative haiku is a From the Renga Masters i k often associated with the seventeenth-century Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, the form u had already flourished for more than four hundred years before Bashō even began to B write. These early poems, known as hokku, are identical to haiku in syllable count and e f structure but function differently as a genre. Whereas each haiku is its own constella- o r tion of image and meaning, hokku opens a series of linked, collaborative stanzas in a e H Before sequence called renga. a i - k to Basho Under the mastery of Bashō, hokku first gained its modern independence. His tal- u ents evolved the style into the haiku beloved by so many poets around the world F today—Richard Wright, Jack Kerouac, and Billy Collins being notable devotees. This r o anthology reproduces three hundred and twenty Japanese hokku poems composed m between the thirteenth and early eighteenth centuries, from the work of the courtier t Nijo Yoshimoto to the genre’s first “professional” master, Sogi, and his subsequent h Haiku disciples. It also features twenty masterpieces by Bashō himself. Steven D. Carter, a e renowned scholar of Japanese poetry and prominent translator, includes an introduc- R tion covering the history of haiku and its aesthetics, classifying these poems accord- e n ing to style and context. His rich commentary and notes on composition and setting g illuminates each work, and he adds romanized versions and brief descriptions of the a poets and the times in which they wrote. M a s “A tour de force. Because they were often written for social occasions, many hok- t e ku disappeared like ‘blossoms on the wind.’ to communicate each poem to its r fullest, steven D. carter names the season and provides a short commentary on s its poetic and cultural allusions. enjoy these blossoms that have been gathered, t o some for the first time, in this landmark collection.” B mARgARet cHulA, president, Tanka Society of America a s h steven D. cARteR is Yamato Ichihashi Chair in Japanese History and Civiliza- o- tion at Stanford University. His numerous books include Just Living: Poems by the Medieval Monk Tonna and Unforgotten Dreams: Poems by the Zen Monk Shotetsu. c TraNSLATIoNS fRoM THe ASIAN CLASSICS Printed in the U.S.A. olu Cover image: m Cover design: Martin Hinze ISBN: 978-0-231-15647-9 bia columbia university Press / new york Translated by www.cup.columbia.edu 9 780231156479 Steven D. Carter haiku before haiku translations from the asian classics translations from the asian classics Editorial Board Wm. Theodore de Bary, Chair Paul Anderer Donald Keene George A. Saliba Wei Shang Haruo Shirane Burton Watson Haiku from the renga masters Before - to basho Haiku Translated, with an introduction, by steven d. carter columbia university press new york columbia university press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © 2011 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Haiku before haiku: from the Renga masters to Bashō / translated, with an introduction, by Steven D. Carter p. cm. — (Translations from the Asian classics) Includes bibliographical references. isbn 978-0-231-15648-6 (cloth : acid-free paper)— isbn 978-0-231-15647-9 (pbk. : acid-free paper)— isbn 978-0-231-52706-4 (e-book) 1. Haiku—Translations into English. 2. Japanese poetry—1185–1600— Translations into English. 3. Japanese poetry—Edo period, 1600–1868— Translations into English. 4. Renga—Translations into English. I. Carter, Steven D. pl782.e3h24 2011 895.6'1008—dc22 2010037030 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. book design by vin dang To Benjamin Contents ix Acknowledgments 1 Introduction the poems 20 The Nun Abutsu 20 Mushō 22 Zenna 22 Reizei Tamesuke 24 Musō Soseki 24 Junkaku 26 Gusai 28 Nijō Yoshimoto 30 Shūa 30 Sōa 32 Asayama Bontō 34 Mitsuhiro 34 Fushiminomiya Sadafusa 36 Chiun 40 Takayama Sōzei 44 Gyōjo 46 Nōa 48 Shinkei 54 Senjun 56 Sugiwara Sōi 58 Sōgi 66 Hino Tomiko 68 Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado 70 Ōuchi Masahiro 70 Inkō 72 Shōhaku 78 Sakurai Motosuke 80 Sōchō 84 Inawashiro Kensai 90 Sanjōnishi Sanetaka 94 Sōseki 98 Reizei Tamekazu 98 Tani Sōboku 102 Shūkei 102 Sōyō 104 Arakida Moritake 106 Shōkyū 108 Ikkadō Jōa 110 Sanjōnishi Kin’eda 112 Miyoshi Chōkei 114 Satomura Jōha 118 Satomura Shōshitsu 120 Oka Kōsetsu 122 Hosokawa Yūsai 126 Satomura Genjō 128 Matsudaira Ietada 130 Shōtaku 130 Nishinotō’in Tokiyoshi 132 Matsunaga Teitoku 134 Wife of Mitsusada 136 Miura Tamenori 136 Nishiyama Sōin 142 Nōjun 142 Konishi Raizan 144 Matsuo Bashō 155 Bibliography viii • [contents] Acknowledgments as always, I thank my wife, Mary, for her support in all my endeav- ors. My son Benjamin, to whom this book is dedicated, helped me with proofreading at many stages along the way. Also of great assistance in that regard was Jeffrey Knott, a doctoral student in Japanese literature at Stan- ford University. Two anonymous readers for Columbia University Press made a number of very helpful suggestions, for which I am duly grateful. Irene Pavitt and Jennifer Crewe of Columbia University Press provided valuable assistance in guiding the project to completion.