I’ve really been enjoying the haiku/haibun travelogues of Bashō and Santoka.
Haiku historically evolves from renga which (to this reader) has a certain social or party game aspect to it. In short, the entertainment of grounded, stationary folks.
It’s inspiring to think about haiku as the practice or past-time of the wanderer, the hobo.
Bashō opens Narrow Road to the Interior by noting that although he returned from a big trip the previous fall, spring fills him again with wanderlust. He finds himself unable to concentrate while mending his trousers or sewing a new strap on his bamboo hat. (Such images.)
Santoka carefully notes the cost and quality of the sake at the inns where he stays, paying with alms given him. (He was a monk.)
I too find myself filled with a kind of wanderlust, and my wife and I are planning some big changes.
Our own narrow road beckons…
Meanwhile, here are the previous week’s haiku and where they were sent.
haiku 20230327 >> Berkeley, CA USA
bay window
the cat rolls over
in the sun beam
haiku 20230328 >> Preston, VIC AUSTRALIA
unexpected rain
my mother-in-law calls
from the hospital
haiku 20230329 >> Huron, Ohio USA
sierra evening
we travel from
rain to snow
haiku 20230330 >> Palmer, AK USA
snow melt
a christmas ribbon
still bright red
haiku 20230331 >> Massa, Carrara Italy
rereading bashō
my own narrow road
beckons
haiku 20230401 >> Muncie, IN USA
online poker
a wookie from brazil
cracks my aces
haiku 20230402 >> Albuquerque, NM USA
moon and clouds
I spend too much time
indoors
I want to send you a card
It’s kinda weird you read my Substack but don’t want a card? I don’t get it. Please ask! It’s free. I ask nothing in return, aside from your good graces.
Buy haiku books
New feature! Links to books I mention in this and other posts. Yes, I do get a small commission if you buy these through my Amazon links, but these are books I’ve bought myself and can happily recommend without mercenary motivations. You can support my work AND build up a fine haiku library!
Mountain Tasting - Haiku and Journals of Santoka Teneda (tr. John Stevens)
I found Santoka challenging at first. Much of his haiku feels incomplete to me or dashed off. But he grew on me. Soon I felt like a companion on his journey, bouncing from inn to inn, begging for alms by day, pounding the sake at night. Buy it here.The Essential Haiku - Versions of Bashō, Buson, & Issa
Essential is right! Edited by Robert Hass, a great poet in his own right. Hass includes great essays on the history and evolution, as well as other writings by the poets themselves. A true master class in haiku! Buy it here.Narrow Road to the Interior and Other Writings, Matsuo Bashō (tr. Sam Hamill) - Haiku poets have a tradition of wandering the countryside, and Bashō set the example! Buy it here.
Selected Poems, Masaoka Shiki (tr. Burton Watson) - I wrote a whole post about Shiki. Haiku might not exist today without his influence and renewal of the form. Buy it here.
Issa's Best: A Translator's Selection of Master Haiku, Issa Kobayashi (tr. David G. Lanoue) - Issa is probably the most beloved of the classic poets. His humility and joy in the face of unbearable loss and poverty endear him to haiku lovers everywhere. Lanoue seems to have made translating Issa his life’s work, and I love his versions. Buy it here.
Recently read Basho's Narrow Road to the Interior. Loved it!
I would also recommend Writing and Enjoying Haiku, she has a non standard approach to the usual 5-7-5 syllable count and includes other related forms as well.
Blessings on your travel plans!