THE PENGUIN BOOK OF HAIKU - TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY ADAM L. KERN
Got this one because a) it was recommended by Jay Rubin, the guy who translates all the Murikami books and thus seems like someone who would know a thing or two about which Japanese translations are best and b) I’m trying to get through BLACK LEPORD RED WOLF which, so far, is really interesting but it’s hardcover (hard to take with me on the bus) and requires long sessions to really get into the world so I really wanted something I could pick up and read quickly, something akin to small little bites. There is no literary form more suited to quick reads than the Haiku. Going in, I thought I knew a thing or two about the form. I obviously was familiar with the 5-7-5 structure and I vaguely remember learning that “true” Haikus were suppose to invoke singular, natural scenes. I thought they were old and connected to an ancient part of pristine Japanese culture. Well, turns out that is not the case. Turns out the Haiku was created in the recent past, The 5-7-5 single poem written by a single author about nature is more modern than photography. Apparently, after the Meiji restoration, when Japan opened itself up to the world at large (or, more precisely, was forced open) Japanese poets considered how they wanted to share Japanese poetry with the world. There were/are dozens of indigenous poetic forms in Japan. During this era, many of them were collaborative, meaning that one poet would issue a challenge and people would see who could come up with the best “response.” It was something of a party game. This could go back in forth in a process called “linked exchange.” This is the sort of thing that Bashō was writing; he never composed what we would think of as a modern Haiku. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, poets (like Shōyō and Shiki) write essays and petition the government to deemphasize the often dirty linked verses and focus instead on single nature poems written by a single author and then make a conscious effort to promote this form as the truest example of Japanese poetry specifically and aesthetics generally. They actually go back and trim the work of older poets (like Bashō) into the shapes of modern Haiku, as if it these poets opuses were unruly bonsai. I found this part really fascinating and an interesting look at how a country integrates into a global system when they aren’t colonized. I’m sure lots of nations and peoples would have loved a chance consider how they wanted their art to be seen and digested by the outside world. Anyway, this book includes translations of these “pre-modern” poems and they’re wonderful, old and dirty (the one about going mouth to ass is from 1804). I’ll finish this review with a few of my favorites from the book. As a quick aside, I have no idea wha the last poem here is suppose to mean. What is a rice girl? When aren’t butts and heads “lined up”? I read the translator’s note on this poem (there are very exhaustive notes in this book) and it’s insight into the poem is that the poem also functions as an acrostic (Japanese poetry is, apparently, very acrostic heavy) for butthole. Important, vital even, information, but the central mystery of the poem remains locked to me. Any insight is welcomed. Either way, a great collection, 17 syllables.
out of one hole
but with the help of another hole
into one more hole
this world of dew…
though a world of dew it remains
still, even so…
this world of ours;
viewing blossoms on the surface
above hell
The bureaucrat’s tot
learns about grabby-grabby
an awful lot
“Better not turn into a butterfly”
says the dream beast
about to chow down
Challenge:
Butthole
Response:
butts and heads alike
wholly lined up on rice girls
