Matsuo BashÅ
Matsuo Bashō (Japanese松尾 芭蕉, Matsuo Bashō, * 1644 in Akasaka, Province of Iga (now Akasaka, Ueno, Iga, Mie Prefecture ), † November 28, 1694 in Osaka ), actually Matsuo Munefusa (松尾 宗 房) was a Japanese poet. He is considered an important representative of the Japanese verse form haiku. Bashō and his disciples renewed until then humorously playful haikai poetry and brought them to the rank of serious literature.
Life
Bashō was born into a samurai family of lower rank, whose life world he opposed. Rather than embark on the time allotted to him military career, he was a wanderer, who studied the way and the history of Zen and turned to classical Chinese poetry. Basho's father died in 1656; it is possible that the 12- year-old Bash at that time already in the service of Todo Yoshitada, a young relative of the ruling feudal lords, stood. With him Bashō shared a passion for the haikai no renga, a form of alternating, Community poetry mostly in 14 and 17 Moren.
With the sudden death Yoshitadas 1666 Basho ended service to the lord and he retired at the age of 22 years, probably in the loneliness of a Buddhist monastery in Kyoto back, where his earliest surviving today verses arise. From 1667, he lived probably in Fukagawa in Edo (now Tokyo) with his friend Sugiyama Sampu, where he began to compose haiku and to delve into the poetry. Although Basho's verse in 1667, 1669 and 1671 appeared in various anthologies, biographical records of Basho's life to 1676 largely cancel.
In 1676 he co-wrote with another poet in Edo few hundred lines long renku. Basho's poetry soon enjoyed in the literary circles of Nihonbashi attention. As a result, he was taught by Kitamura Kigin ( 1624-1705 ). In 1680 he already had 20 students who he taught and whose best poems as tosei - Montei Dokugin - Nijukasen (桃 青 门 弟 独 吟 二十 歌仙, dt approximately ) were published. His disciples built him a hut first banana plants (芭蕉 庵, Basho-An, specifically Japanese fiber banana ), whence also stirred his poetic pseudonym. Despite his success, Bashō was lonely, what occasion was to turn to Zen meditation.
Two years later, in 1682, Basho's burned dwelling, in the following year his mother died in Ueno. Bashō traveled for several months after Yamura (now Tsuru in the province of Kai, Yamanashi Prefecture). In the same year his students built a new, second Bashō Hut. The following year, in 1684, his student Takarai Kikaku published the anthology Minashiguri (虚 栗). In the winter of the same year Bash went on his first of four walks, which lasted until 1685. The literary result of this hike was the " Weathered skeleton". Moreover, Bash introduced in Nagoya to a group of poets who " Winter Sun" compacted.
After returning from his trip, Bashō wrote in 1686 the "Critical Notes on the New Year renku ". After a short stay in Edo in 1687, he began his second trek to Kashima what he called " A visit to the shrine of Kashima " described in. He also took part as a judge in a haiku contest, which was published in the ' expanses level. " His journey took him along the Tokaido, from which emerged the famous works " The recordings of a weathered satchel " and " A visit at the shrine of Sarashina ".
Again he returned, in 1688, after a year to Edo and back again Bashō began a year later, its third hike in the northern provinces of Honshu. On this hike Bashō collected material for his " Oku no hosomichi " (奥 の 細道, " The narrow path to the Deep North " or " On a narrow path through the hinterland " ), which became a classic of Japanese literature.
The last ten years of his life Bashō made numerous trips. He drew this pictures to stimulate his contemplative poetry. He also worked with poets spot in the haiku closely related verse of the renga. In addition Bashō wrote haibun, a short prose - poetry in the form of travel journals, such as the famous Oku no hosomichi ( on narrow paths through the hinterland, 1689). In 1690 he visited friends in Kyoto and spent some summer months on Lake Biwa. In the course of the following year he spent a few weeks in the "House of the falling persimmons ," where he " Saga Diary " wrote before he returned late in the year to Edo. For the same year came the release of " The mantle of the Apes".
1692 then the third Bashō hut was built, in which he includes himself and as " Critical comments an autumn night ," wrote well-known work today. 1694 " A bag full of charcoal " was released and Bashō embarked on another long summer trip. However gravely ill, he died on November 28th in Osaka.
Basho's haikus
The structure of his haiku reflects the simplicity of his meditative life. He knew many of his verses with a mystical quality and tried to express the big, earth-shattering topics by simple natural pictures, the full moon in autumn up to the fleas in his hut. Bashō gave the haiku a whole new grace. He deepened the haiku, Zen thought and conceptual poetry as a very unique lifestyle ( Kado, the Way of Poetry ). Bashō was convinced, poetry could be a source of enlightenment. " Get enlightenment, then return to the world of ordinary humanity ," advised Bashō. He continued: " If not, but looking in the footsteps of the old masters, what they sought ." His attention to the cosmos of nature developed the verse form of the haiku of a hitherto insignificant pastime of the court aristocracy to a major genre of Japanese poetry.
The Frog Haiku
The so-called "Frog Haiku " is the most famous haiku Basho and probably the most frequently cited include haiku ever:
古池 や 蛙 飛び込む 水 の 音
Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto
The old pond: A frog jumps into it. Oh! The sound of water.
Ancient pond. A frog jumps into it. Plop.
Works in German translation
- Matsuo Bashō, Leiko Ikemura: 111 haiku. Ammann, ISBN 3-250-01047-2.
- Matsuo Bashō: Sarumino. The Affenmäntelchen. Edited and from the Japanese transferred from GS Dombrady. Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Mainz 1994, ISBN 3-87162-034-3.
- Matsuo Bashō: On narrow paths through the hinterland. Translated from the Japanese, and provided with an introduction and annotations by GS Dombrady. Fourth, revised edition. Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Mainz 2011, ISBN 978-3-87162-075-1.
- Shomon I. The gate of the hermitage to the banana tree. Haiku by Basho's master students Kikaku, Kyorai, Ransetsu. Edited and transferred from the Japanese by Ekkehard May 2nd edition. Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-87162-050-5.
- Shomon II Haiku from Bashô master students: Joso, Izen, Boncho, Kyoriku, Sampu, Shiko, Yaba. Edited and transferred from the Japanese and with an introduction and annotations by Ekkehard May Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Mainz 2002, ISBN 3-87162-057-2.