International Poetry Day 2024 - MATSUO BASHO AND HAIKU

​Each year 21st March is International Poetry Day. It was founded in 1999 by UNESCO with the intention of inspiring the celebration of poetry from all over the world. This year the theme is “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” -   looking to remember poets whose work has had a lasting influence throughout the generations.

Matsuo Basho (1644-94) born in Edo (modern day Tokyo) Japan, is considered to be the great master of the Haiku. Haiku is a short, unrhyming poem of three lines and traditionally not more than 17 syllables. Dating back to as long ago as the 10th and 11th centuries, its form came into being as an introductory verse for the long poems of 100 verses or more that were read at poetry gatherings. It was always intended to be a complete statement in itself, whilst alluding to the poem that it preceded. These short poems came to be seen as an expression in their own right, a way of communicating a feeling, an experience, a way to evoke the atmosphere of what was being described.
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Central to this is the understanding in Japanese culture of what is called Ma (pronounced ‘maah’). Ma is awareness of the space, rather than paying attention only to the form of an object. Ma is filled with nothing, with emptiness, silence rather than sound, less rather than more, space rather than form. It is the pause in speech, the silence between notes in music, the blank space in painting. In this space is stillness, is peace.

Haiku relies on the reader being able to feel and imagine what is being expressed with the minimum of words possible. It is what is not put into words, the feeling, that is important. Ma is more eloquent than words. There is a painterly quality, the poem happens now, in the present, and is focused on the simple beauty of nature, the changing of the seasons, sentiments experienced in the moment.

The Narrow Road to the Interior, written by Basho around 1690, is widely held to be one of the masterpieces of Asian literature. It is a travelogue of a journey he made with a companion in his later years. Part fiction and part fact, the haiku are so expressive as to serve almost as illustrations of his feelings and observations within the story of the diary. He conveys an essential yet tender quality that charms the reader.

Basho wrote many books, elevating the haiku from a genre that was uniquely Japanese to a level that was accessible for international appreciation. He is still the foremost poet first time readers of haiku come across, and his works have greatly influenced many writers of the 20th century.   

It  is difficult to translate some of the subtleties within the original Japanese script as haiku are written in one line, without any punctuation. In English this doesn't work  well, so minimal punctuation is sometimes needed.  Not starting with a capital letter or ending with a full stop helps suggest the feeling of being in the continuity of a space, the Ma, neither beginning nor ending.

words by Geri Andrews

graphic by Olivera Stevanic