Haikai
Haikai (Japanese 俳諧 comic, unorthodox) is a poetic genre that includes a number of forms which embrace the aesthetics of haikai no renga, and what Bashō referred to as the "poetic spirit" (fūga), including haiku, renku (haikai no renga), haibun, haiga and senryū[1] (though not orthodox renga, tanka or waka).
"Haikai" is sometimes used as an abbreviation for "haikai no renga".[2]
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Bashō and haikai
Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) is one of the most famous poets of the Edo period. For Bashō, haikai involved a combination of comic playfulness and spiritual depth, ascetic practice and involvement in human society.[3] The first time in Japanese literary history that the word haikai was first used was at the beginning of the 10th century. Haikai is an idea that goes beyond material forms of art, its a mode of thinking, speaking and acting. Matsuo Bashō was the greatest figure active in Japanese haikai during the latter half of the seventeeth century. He did not only compose haikai poetry but he also created masterpieces in a variety of genres, including renku(linked verse), haibun(haikai-style prose), and haiga(haikai paintings).[4] Bashō’s haikai treated of the ordinary, everyday lives of commoners. In contrast to traditional Japanese poetry, he portrayed figures from popular culture such as the beggar, the traveller and the farmer. In crystallising the newly popular haikai he played a significant role in giving birth to modern haiku, which reflected the common culture
Basho Revival
A new group of poets began to emerge in the 1760′s and they were using a strategy of looking to the poet for a standard to live up to and they found Matsuo Bashō, who had made his life’s work the transformation of haikai into a literary genre. The 18th century reform movement came to be called the Basho Revival which lasted 30 years. The revival movement members were in competition with the tentori poets who neglected them.[5]
Yosen Buson and Masaoka Shiki
Yosen Buson was a poet and painter that died December 24,1783 at 86 years old. Buson was rediscovered in the late Meiji period by the poet and literary critic Masaoka Shiki. Shiki called modern haikai “haiku”. Shiki’s writing during the 19th century made the foundation for the appraisal of Buson’s work for most of the 20th century. He thought of Buson as a painter in words and as a visual poet.[6]
References
- ^ Higginson, William J. The Haiku Seasons, Kodansha International, 1996, ISBN 4-7700-1629-8, p.9
- ^ Higginson, p.19
- ^ Barnhill, David Landis. Bashō's Haiku: Selected Poems by Matsuo Bashō, Suny Press, 2004, ISBN 0-7914-6165-3, p.279
- ^ Kerkham, Eleanor (2006). Matsuo Basho’s poetic spaces exploring haikai intersection. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 268. ISBN 1-4039-7258-3.
- ^ Crowley, Cheryl A. (2007). Japanese Studies Library, Volume 27 : Haikai Poet Yosa Buson and the Basho Revival. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 310. ISBN 978-90-04-15709-5.
- ^ Crowley, Cheryl A. (2007). Japanese Studies Library, Volume 27 : Haikai Poet Yosa Buson and the Basho Revival. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 310. ISBN 978-90-04-15709-5.
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