| | a im the HAIKU SEASONS ile in rH =| hy aya A oe A Pd et ap = Sr a ff r= me ee! mca ne =Dedicated to Penny Harter poet and partner and Elizabeth Searle Lamb poct and friend Published by Stone Bridge Press P.O. Box 8208 Berkeley, CA 94707 tel 510-524-8732 * sbp@stonebridge.com * wwwatonebridge.com Originally published in 1996 by Kodansha International Ltd., Tokyo, New York, and London. First mentions of all Japanese words except common place names have been romanized with long vowel signs. ‘Text © 1996, 2008 William J, Higginson Cover design by Linda Ronan. All rights reserved, No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written, permission from the publisher Printed in the United States of America, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Higginson, William J., 1958- The haiku seasons : poetry of the natural world / William J, Higginson. — Rev. ed pom. Originally published: Tokyo; New York: Kodansha International Led., 1996, Tneludes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-033330-65-5 1. Haiku—History and criticism. 2. Japanese poetry—History and criticism. 3 Haiku—Tanslations into English. 4. Seasons in literature. 1. Title. If. Title: Poetry of the natural world, PL729.H143 2008 895.6104 10933—de22 2008015872CHAPTER THE ESSENCE OF HAIKU People of refinernent submit to nature and befriend the four seasons. ... Submit to nature, return to nature. Basho, 1688 The Japanese Aaiku and its cousin, the satiric senrya, both originated in a style of linked-verse poem called Aatkai no renga. Haikai no renga usually involved a group of poets who met to compose a single long poem together, a literary amusement that became popular with the growing middle class during the Tokugawa era (1603-1868). Bashd (surname Matsuo, 1644-1694) was an important poet of the time, and his style of Aaikai no renga eventually became the most popular, continuing right up to the beginning of the twentieth century. (Haikai no renga is Frequently abbreviated Aatkai renga, and sometimes shortened to simply haikai.) Throughout the history of Aaikai no renga a tendency grew to separate the hokke or “starting verse” from the longer collabora- tive poem, or to write hokku singly without going on to make a linked-verse poem. These hokku often were included in short prose pieces, or simply selected and published in their own sec- tions of anthologies of the Aaikai genre. The separate hokku gradually became completely independent, and by the late nine- teenth century were called Aika; today most people know Basha asa haiku poet.