Table Of Content“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.
