1. Basho's Life basho nowaki shite A banana plant in the autumn gale Tarai ni ame o I listen to the dripping of rain Kiku yo kana Into a basin at night. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kohl/basho/life.html

The master haiku Poet Matsuo Basho by Makoto Ueda, Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1970. Basho's Life One day in the spring of 1681 a banana tree was being planted alongside a modest hut in a rustic area of Edo, a city now known as Tokyo. It was a gift from a local resident to his teacher of poetry, who had moved into the hut several months earlier. The teacher, a man of thirty-six years of age, was delighted with the gift. He loved the banana plant because it was somewhat like him in the way it stood there. Its large leaves were soft and sensitive and were easily torn when gusty winds blew from the sea. Its flowers were small and unobtrusive; they looked lonesome, as if they knew they could bear no fruit in the cool climate of Japan. Its stalks were long and fresh- looking, yet they were of no practical use. The teacher lived all alone in the hut. On nights when he had no visitor, he would sit quietly and listen to the wind blowing through the banana leaves. The lonely atmosphere would deepen on rainy nights. Rainwater leaking through the roof dripped intermittently into a basin. To the ears of the poet sitting in the dimly lighted room, the sound made a strange harmony with the rustling of the banana leaves outside. Basho nowaki shite A banana plant in the autumn gale - Tarai ni ame o I listen to the dripping of rain Kiku yo kana Into a basin at night.

2. Etsy :: Basho Apparel T-shirt Art Studio basho Apparel is a small tshirt design studio. Paul Baker, artist and owner, hand prints each and every shirt. The designs are a part of a cohesive body of http://www.basho.etsy.com/

Cart items Login Register Help Buy ... Your Etsy Basho's shop items: tags, titles items: tags, titles, descriptions sellers: usernames items: tags only materials Home > Basho.etsy.com Basho Apparel T-shirt Art Studio Basho's Shop Announcement Basho Apparel is a small t-shirt design studio. Paul Baker, artist and owner, hand prints each and every shirt. The designs are a part of a cohesive body of work, referencing a common theme with a unique visual vocabulary. Check www.myspace.com/bashoapparel to see what we are up to and to check out our other designs (tell us what you want to see here in the future!). 31 items view: gallery list FEATURED ITEMS FROM BASHO transition Basho bird, wire, post Basho ... Basho sort by: Most Recently Listed Least Recently Listed Price: High to Low Price: Low to High Most Viewed Least Viewed Bird Tree Basho shield around us Basho ... Basho Pages: Jump to: Sections in this shop: Shop home (all items) Off to Nowhere Passion For Form Cat Moving On Warrior Craver ... Feedback 118, 100% pos. Basho's info rating: 118, 100% pos. joined: Jan 02, 2007

3. Poet: Matsuo Basho - All Poems Of Matsuo Basho Poet Matsuo basho All poems of Matsuo basho .. poetry. http://www.poemhunter.com/matsuo-basho/

Poem Hunter .com Poet: Matsuo Basho - All poems of Matsuo Basho 1/28/2008 12:14:16 AM Home Poets Poems Lyrics ... SEARCH Matsuo Basho Free Poetry E-Book: 42 poems of Matsuo Basho File Size: 112k File Format: Acrobat Reader To download the eBook right-Click on the title and select "Save Target As". Biography Poems Quotations Comments ... Stats One day in the spring of 1681 a banana tree was being planted alongside a modest hut in a rustic area of Edo, a city now known as Tokyo. It was a gift from a local resident to his teacher of poetry, who had moved into the hut several months earlier. The teacher, a man of thirty-six years of age, was .. .. more >> Poems Search in the poems of Matsuo Basho Click the title of the poem you'd like read. Page: A bee A caterpillar A cicada shell A cool fall night ... Fleas, lice Page: Quotations "Refinement's origin: the remote north country's rice-planting song." Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), Japanese poet. (untitled haiku), Trans. by Bernard Lionel Einbond, in Cicada I, No. 4 (Winter 1977). "Clouds now and again give a soul some respite from Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), Japanese poet. (untitled haiku), Trans. by Bernard Lionel Einbond, in Cicada I, No. 4 (Winter 1977).

4. Biography Of Basho Biography of the 17thcentury Japanese poet and selections of his haiku and haibun. http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Island/5022/bashobio.html

INTRODUCTION BASHO biography haiku haibun BUSON biography haiku ISSA biography haiku OTHER POETS Any comments or suggestions would be most welcomed. Please feel free to send me an e-mail With metta, rei fu Sign Guestbook View Guestbook BASHO Basho (bah-shoh), pseudonym of Matsuo Munefusa (1644-94), Japanese poet, considered the finest writer of Japanese haiku during the formative years of the genre. Born into a samurai family prominent among nobility, Basho rejected that world and became a wanderer, studying Zen, history, and classical Chinese poetry, living in apparently blissful poverty under a modest patronage and from donations by his many students. From 1667 he lived in Edo (now Tokyo), where he began to compose haiku. The structure of his haiku reflects the simplicity of his meditative life. When he felt the need for solitude, he withdrew to his basho-an , a hut made of plantain leaves ( basho )-hence his pseudonym. Basho infused a mystical quality into much of his verse and attempted to express universal themes through simple natural images, from the harvest moon to the fleas in his cottage. Basho brought to haiku "the Way of Elegance" ( fuga-no-michi ), deepened its Zen influence, and approached poetry itself as a way of life (

5. Sales Training Programs: Sales Force And Sales Management Training Workshops And At basho Strategies, we draw from sumo in our approach to sales training an approach based on selfempowerment and disciplined technique. http://www.bashostrategies.com/

Basho Strategies Home Contact Us Blog ... SALES KICKOFF 2008 Posted January 15, 2008 Prepare to Learn the Practice of Greater Sales At Basho Strategies, we draw from sumo in our approach to sales training: an approach based on self-empowerment and disciplined technique. Our sales training programs enable you to overcome sales challenges immediately, advancing your sales cycle and driving revenue to new heights. Corporate Sales Training The Basho Strategies’ modular sales training program empowers your sales organization to excel at each phase of the sales process, immediately impacting your sales performance and driving revenue to new heights: Sales Training Sales Management Training Public Speaking Sales Training Workshops Based on our internationally renowned corporate sales training programs, our workshop series provides the tools that you need to crush your revenue goals on your way to becoming a sales leader: BOSTON WORKSHOP LONDON WORKSHOP BAY AREA WORKSHOP The Basho Community Join our sales community and take advantage of powerful sales training resources that will enable you to have an immediate impact on your sales performance. Discover new sales tactics and network with sales professionals: Blog Library Network LIVE!

6. Grand Inspiritors: Matsuo Basho Links to a variety of sites about the Japanese poet in English and Japanese. http://opening.hefko.net/gi_basho.html

Opening Links Books Matsuo Basho On high narrow road old traveler clears wide swath, tiny scythe glinting. Internet Resources Basho's World offers 44 very nicely illustrated and annotated excerpts, with choice of four English translators, for The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Oku no Hosomichi) . Also available here is The Master Haiku Poet Matsuo Basho by Makoto Ueda, a fine short biography, and a Basho Chronology . These resources have been provided by Prof. Stephen Kohl of the Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of Oregon. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kohl/basho/ Matsuo Bash´: Frog Haiku (Thirty Translations and One Commentary) , also, Matsuo Bash´: Oku no Hosomichi (Nine Translations of the Opening Paragraph) From the Bureau of Public Secrets. http://www.bopsecrets.org/gateway/passages/basho-frog.htm "Poems on Tanzaku paper" three hanging scrolls at the Permanent Collection of the Yamagata Museum of Art http://www.yamagata-art-museum.or.jp/en/j_collec/02.html Download the complete texts of Oku no Hosomichi and Oi no kobumi , provided (in Japanese) by the Japanese Text Initiative http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/texts.html

7. Basho Matsuo Analysis of the haiku poet s writing and importance. http://www.big.or.jp/~loupe/links/ehisto/ebasho.shtml

HISTORY OF HAIKU 10 haikuists and their works Previous Page Chapter 2 Basho Matsuo Basho Matsuo is known as the first great poet in the history of haikai (and haiku). He too, wrote poems using jokes and plays upon words in his early stages, as they were in fashion, but began to attach importance to the role of thought in haikai (especially in hokku) from around 1680. The thought of Tchouang-tseu, philosopher in the 4th century B.C., influenced greatly Basho, and he often quoted the texts of "The Book of master Tchouang" in his hokkus. The thinker Tchouang-tseu denied the artificiality and the utilitarianism, seeing value of intellect low. He asserted that things seemingly useless had the real value, and that it was the right way of life not to go against the natural law. To a leg of a heron Adding a long shank Of a pheasant. Basho This poem parodied the following text in "The Book of master Tchouang": "When you see a long object, you don't have to think that it is too long if being long is the property given by the nature. It is proved by the fact that a duckling, having short legs, will cry if you try to draw them out by force, and that a crane, having long legs, will protest you with tears if you try to cut them with a knife." By playing on purpose in this haiku an act "jointing legs of birds by force" which Tchouang denied, he showed the absurdity of this act and emphasized the powerlessness of the human being's intelligence humorously.

8. Basho's Haiku What follows are interpretations of basho s works by three editors and translators, three gentlemen that would seem to have the qualifications for the task; http://www.haikupoetshut.com/basho1.html

What follows are interpretations of Basho's works by three editors and translators, three gentlemen that would seem to have the qualifications for the task; R.H.Blyth, Lucien Stryck, and Peter Beilenson. There are also some comments by a fourth,Kenneth Rexroth. I began putting together this list as a means to clarify, for myself, what this lovely art form is all about. Opinions seem to vary wildly about just what constitutes haiku. There doesn't seem to be any "concrete" answers. Mr. Rexroth points out, however, in the preface to "One Hundred Poems from the Japanese" that "the Japanese language is almost as rich in homonyms and ordinary double meanings as is Chinese" and there are engo , "associated words rising from the same concept,occupy a position between our similes and metaphors...". He further speaks of the kake kotoba , a pivot word employed in two senses, even three on rare occasions. Rexroth makes the statement that "The pivot word shades into the pun, and some Japanese poems have so many puns that they may have two or more quite dissimilar meaning." I have also read that the kigo or "season word" is also a metaphor (there's that word again) for the stages of our lives. I guess my point is, if I have to have one, that an absolute statement as to the correct way to write haiku would be practically impossible. I found some of all three of the following interpretations to my liking. Mr. Beilenson attempts to stick with the 5-7-5 format, occassionally to the poems detriment. Stryck on the other hand seems very Spartan in his translations, and in the book his poems are taken from, "On Love and Barley - Haiku of Basho" one of Basho's poems seems to have two interpretations, it is appended to the list below.

9. Basho The Commentary on basho page of The Poetry Store Archive is linked to The Poetry Store which sells poetry books and recommends selected poetry. http://www.poetrystore.com/commenta.html

Home E-mail including comments by the venerated DT Suzuki From Zen and Japanese Culture , by D T Suzuki, Bollingen Foundation Inc NY, Pantheon Books, NY pp 228-229 To quote Dr. R. H. Blyth, an authority on the 'study of haiku: "A haiku is the expression of a temporary enlightenment, in which we see into the life of things." Whether "temporary" or not, Basho gives in his seventeen syllables a significant intuition into Reality. Dr. Blyth continues: "Each thing is preaching the law [Dharma] incessantly, but this law is not something different from the thing itself. Haiku is the revealing of this preaching by presenting us with the thing devoid of all our mental twisting and emotional discolouration; or rather, it shows the thing as it exists at one and the same time outside and inside the mind, perfectly subjective, ourselves undivided from the object, the object in its original unity with ourselves.... It is a way of returning to nature, to our moon nature, our cherry-blossom nature, our falling leaf nature, in short, to our Buddha nature. It is a way in which the cold winter rain, the swallows of evening, even the very day in its hotness and the length of the night become truly alive, share in our humanity, speak their own silent and expressive language." * What Dr. Blyth calls the moon nature, the cherry-blossom nature, etc., are no more than the suchness of things. In Christian terms, it is to see God in an angel as angel, to see God in a flea as flea. Basho discovered this in the sound of the water as a frog jumped into the old pond. This sound coming out of the old pond was heard by Basho as filling the entire universe. Not only was the totality of the environment absorbed in the sound and vanished into it, but Basho himself was altogether effaced from his consciousness. Both the subject and the object

10. Basho --  Britannica Online Encyclopedia Britannica online encyclopedia article on basho the supreme Japanese haiku poet, who greatly enriched the 17syllable haiku form and made it an accepted http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9013602

var britAdCategory = "travel"; Already a member? LOGIN Encyclopædia Britannica - the Online Encyclopedia Home Blog Advocacy Board ... Free Trial Britannica Online Content Related to this Topic This Article's Table of Contents Introduction Additional Reading Print this Table of Contents Shopping New! Britannica Book of the Year The Ultimate Review of 2007. 2007 Britannica Encyclopedia Set (32-Volume Set) Revised, updated, and still unrivaled. New! Britannica 2008 Ultimate DVD/CD-ROM The world's premier software reference source. Basho Page 1 of 1 born 1644, Ueno, Iga province, Japan died Nov. 28, 1694, Osaka in full Matsuo Basho , pseudonym of Matsuo Munefusa the supreme Japanese haiku poet, who greatly enriched the 17-syllable haiku form and made it an accepted medium of artistic expression. Basho... (75 of 618 words) To read the full article, activate your FREE Trial Commonly Asked Questions About Basho Close Enable free complete viewings of Britannica premium articles when linked from your website or blog-post. Now readers of your website, blog-post, or any other web content can enjoy full access to this article on Basho , or any Britannica premium article for free, even those readers without a premium membership. Just copy the HTML code fragment provided below to create the link and then paste it within your web content. For more details about this feature, visit our

11. Haiku, Haibun, And Renga Of Matsuo Basho Having various translations lets one understand better what was likely to be the original intention of Bash . In particular, I compared paragraphs and poems http://baymoon.com/~ariadne/poets/basho.htm

New books on writing poetry Highlights of Poetry Index of poetry How to Write Poetry ... Books read Yuki Teikei Haiku Society: Join GEPPO magazine Annual anthologies ... Published haiku by Joan Zimmerman How to write specific forms: Haibun Haiku Hay(na)ku Rengay ... Villanelle Poets: Adam Zagajewski Aleda Shirley Anne Carson The Beowulf Poet ... Kay Ryan Laureate Poets: Britain USA Len Anderson Li Young Lee ... Pulitzer Poetry Prize (U.S.A). Richard Hugo Robert Bly Sara Teasdale Shiki (haiku) ... W.S. Merwin edited by Robert Hass. New books on writing poetry Writings Haiku Haibun ... Time Line Writings (alphabetical by translator or biographer) Narrow Road in up to four translations: Keene's The Narrow Road to Oku Hamill's Narrow Road to the Interion , where Hamill condenses the prose by about 30% while adding words and even phrases to the poems Barnhill's version in Basho's Journey: The Literary Prose of Matsuo Basho Ueda's The Master Haiku Poet Matsuo Basho , though it has only three poems from Narrow Road Haiku edited by Robert Hass.

12. Matsuo Basho basho replied, Oh, well, at this very place and produced a haiku. Reference volume IX of the complete works of basho published by Kadokawa Shoten http://sunnypad.com/asunnyplace/haiku/basho.htm

Matsuo Basho Basho "In the second year of the Jokyo period (1685) at dawn on the 14th day of the Ninth Month, Basho had a strange dream in which he was caught in a rainstorm and ran into a shrine to take shelter. The priest scolded him and turned him away, but then said he could stay if he could make a haiku that fit the moment. Basho replied, 'Oh, well, at this very place ...' and produced a haiku." Reference: volume IX of the complete works of Basho published by Kadokawa Shoten Matsuo Munefusa, alias Basho (1644-94), was a Japanese poet and writer during the early Edo period. He took his pen name Basho from his basho-an , a hut made of plantain leaves, to where he would withdraw from society for solitude. Born of a weathy family, Basho was a Samurai until the age of 20, at which time he devoted himself to his poetry. Basho was a main figure in the development of haiku, and is considered to have written the most perfect examples of the form. His poetry explores the beauties of nature and are influenced by Zen Buddhism, which lends itself to the meditative solitude sensed in his haiku. He traveled extensively throughout his lifetime. His 1689 five-month journey deep into the country north and west of Edo provided the insight for his most famous work

13. Basho Records Contemporary Jazz basho Music, rapidly emerging as one of the UK s most dynamic organisations in promoting and recording contemporary jazz AllAboutJazz.com http://www.bashorecords.com/

BASHO RECORDS Home Catalogue Artists Contact ... Basho Music "Basho Music, rapidly emerging as one of the UK's most dynamic organisations in promoting and recording contemporary jazz" AllAboutJazz.com "The Basho label is also increasing its momentum on the UK scene, becoming a prolific home to quality recordings, an ever-more important platform for both new and established talent". Jazz Review RELEASED ON 5TH NOVEMBER GWILYM SIMCOCK PERCEPTION SRCD 24-2 PAUL BOOTH NO LOOKING BACK TIM LAPTHORN SEVENTH SENSE IAIN BALLAMY MORE JAZZ CHRIS LAURENCE NEW VIEW SRCD 20-2 SRCD 19-2 SRCD 22-2 SRCD 18-2 Alec Dankworth "Spanish Accents", Stan Sulzmann's Neon "Here to There", Julian Siegel Trio with Greg Cohen and Joey Baron Home Catalogue Artists Contact ... Basho Music

14. Basho, Matsuo: Biography And Much More From Answers.com Matsuo basho Matsuo basho (16441694) was one of the greatest Japanese poets. He elevated haiku to the level of serious poetry in numerous anthologies. http://www.answers.com/topic/matsuo-basho

BodyLoad('s'); On this page: Select Article Biography Britannica Concise Buddhism Columbia Ency. Or search: - The Web - Images - News - Blogs - Shopping Biography Matsuo Basho Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) was one of the greatest Japanese poets. He elevated haiku to the level of serious poetry in numerous anthologies and travel diaries. The name of Matsuo Basho is associated especially with the celebrated Genroku era (ca. 1680-1730), which saw the flourishing of many of Japan's greatest and most typical literary and artistic personalities. Although Basho was the contemporary of writers like the novelist and poet Ihara Saikaku and the dramatist Chikamatsu Monzaemon , he was far from being an exponent of the new middle-class culture of the city dwellers of that day. Rather, in his poetry and in his attitude toward life he seemed to harken back to a period some 300 years earlier. An innovator in poetry, spiritually and culturally he maintained a great tradition of the past. The haiku, a 17-syllable verse form divided into successive phrases or lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, originated in the linked verse of the 14th century, becoming an independent form in the latter part of the 16th century. Arakida Moritake (1473-1549) was a distinguished renga (linked poem) poet who originated witty and humorous verses he called haikai

15. Hamill's Essential Basho This road, Sam Hamill tells us in his moving afterword to his important new translation of basho s travelogues, is at once the road of poetry, http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/hartley/pubs/basho.html

BASHO'S ROAD The Essential Basho translated by Sam Hamill, Boston: Shambhala, 1998. Reviewed by George Hartley xx Just before his death in November 1694, Matsuo Basho wrote the following haiku: All along this road autumn evening xxxx Kono michi ya yuku hito nashi ni aki no kure This "road," Sam Hamill tells us in his moving afterword to his important new translation of Basho's travelogues, is at once the road of poetry, the road of Zen practice, and the road of life itself. All of these are one for Basho. So it was through his lifelong development of the Way of Poetry. In the autumn of his life Basho concerned himself with this road without a single soul; not only do we travel this road alone, but even the status of our own self ultimately has no meaning when confronted with the lonely depths of an autumn evening. The Basho we get in Hamill's translation is the Zen poet pilgrim. As in Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard, Basho's works illustrate the unity of the journey and Zen practice. x Hamill's collection emphasizes this insight by centering on Basho's travelogues: the infamous Narrow Road to the Interior

16. Matsuo Basho's Frog Haiku (30 Translations) 30 English versions of basho s famous frog haiku, with commentary by Robert Aitken. http://www.bopsecrets.org/gateway/passages/basho-frog.htm

B U R E A U O F P U B L I C S E C R E T S Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku (Thirty Translations and One Commentary) The original Japanese: Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto Translated by Lafcadio Hearn 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 Into the ancient pond A frog jumps Translated by D.T. Suzuki The old pond; The sound of the water. Translated by R.H. Blyth The sound Of a diving frog. Translated by Kenneth Rexroth Pond, there, still and old! A frog has jumped from the shore. The splash can be heard. Translated by Eli Siegel Old pond and a frog-jump-in water-sound Translated by Harold G. Henderson The old pond, yes, and A frog-jumping-in-the- Translated by G.S. Fraser The ancient pond A frog leaps in The sound of the water. Translated by Donald Keene old pond frog leaping splash Translated by Cid Corman The old pond

17. In The Space News From Project Basho ONWARD ’08, Project basho’s first juried exhibition opens this Thursday night from 69 pm as part of the 2nd Thursday Gallery Night in Northern http://news.projectbasho.org/

In the Space: News from Project Basho Photography Resource Center in Philadelphia and Beyond About Project Basho 6th Jan, 2008 ::: Opening Reception: Saturday, Jan 12th, 2-5 pm ::: ONWARD ’08, Project Basho’s first juried exhibition opens this Thursday night from 6-9 pm as part of the 2nd Thursday Gallery Night in Northern Liberties/Old Kensington. An official opening reception will be held Saturday, January 12th from 2-5 pm at Project Basho Gallery. For more information about the show and reception, please feel free to contact Project Basho. Project Basho 1305 Germantown Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19122 info@projectbasho.org www.projectbasho.org “Re-introducing Photography to Philadelphia” Related links: ONWARD Press Release (229 KB) Project Basho Gallery 2nd Thursday Openings Posted by: projectbasho No Comments yet... Categories: Announcement Shows/Exhibitions 24th Dec, 2007 Winter Break Please note Project Basho will be closed December 22nd - January 5th. We wish you all a Happy New Year. Thank you for your continued interest in Project Basho and we look forward to seeing you in the studio in 2008. Project Basho 1305 Germantown Ave.

18. MySpaceTV Videos: BASHO By Mr. Papageorgio basho by Mr. Papageorgio Watch it on MySpace Videos. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=15572152

19. Haiku Of Basho The shorthandlooking poem to the left is by the Japanese Zen poet Matsuo basho (Matsuo Munefusa) (1644-94). To the right a Scandinavian proverb is broken http://oaks.nvg.org/basho.html

Haiku of Basho Haiku of Basho Haiku of Basho Haiku depend rather much on what each person is attuned to in them. The old pond A frog leaps in. Splash! Jumping over the brook for water not needed. The shorthand-looking poem to the left is by the Japanese Zen poet Matsuo Basho (Matsuo Munefusa) (1644-94). To the right a Scandinavian proverb is broken up and shortened to fill three lines, to compare with. Many of Basho's haiku poems were actually the hokku (initial verse) of a renga (linked verse). One is to open up and remain receptive to enjoy haiku poetry. BASHO abandoned for poetry the samurai (warrior) status he had earned, and gradually got a reputation as a skilled poet and able critic. As a poet he is credited with elevating haiku to a highly refined "telegram art" that is marked by love of the unobtrusive, as in the poem: Scent of chrysanthemums ... And in Nara All the ancient Buddhas. There are deep meanings in the poem. You are supposed to attune to it all right so as to derive benefit, by knitting associations from your own dear experiences to it. Do it to your ability and see what happens after some weeks or two-three months. This poem is not as brittle as it looks like in English translation either. Such poetry has earned him a reputation as the greatest Japanese haiku poet of Japan - he is also known for many travels through books he wrote of what he saw and took part in. FOLLOWING Zen lines of thinking he tried to compress the meaning of the world he got aware of, into "the simple pattern", at the same time trying to hint at interdependence of all objects. He often strove for that. His very first verse in the "new style" or new-found style may serve as an example:

20. Reading Bashō In The Original : Mark McGuinness | Poetry Which is why it was so exciting to come across Toshiharu Oseko’s basho’s Haiku in a Tokyo bookshop earlier this year. It was the subtitle that drew me in http://www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/poetry/2006/04/28/reading-basho-in-the-original

window.onload = initZoom; Home About Archives Tags ... RSS Reading Bashō in the original Posted on April 28, 2006 Filed Under Poetry Poetry Reviews in a Tokyo bookshop earlier this year. It was the subtitle that drew me in: The simplest way to explain what Oseko has done with Bashō is to show you some excerpts from a page of his book. The book presents 330 of the thousand or so known haiku of Bashō, each in the same format on a separate page. Having plunged us in at the deep end, Oseko throws us a life-belt, by following the Japanese script with a literal English translation of the poem: And there it is. Right in front of us, with photographic clarity - a moment of life. The cultural and historical barriers have melted away and we are in the room with the poet, sensing his body-heat and sharing his quiet delight in the shimmering air. The first stage is to help us hear the sound of the Japanese words, by transcribing the original script into Roman characters: ka mi Now for the second stage - and this is where the real magic begins. For after the phonetic transcription, Oseko has painstakingly described the meaning and grammatical function of every single word in the poem!

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