Basho and Saigyo

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Basho and Saigyo　芭蕉 - 西行

QUOTE
©　Carmen Sterba

Two Celebrities in the Land of Poets

Basho is the most famous of Japanese poets, but did he mimick the lifestyle of the legendary hermit-poet priest Saigyo as a way to enhance his legacy?




Japan is a land of poets. The foremost haiku poet of all time, Matsuo Basho, sought to link himself to Saigyo, the legendary hermit-poet and itinerant priest. In time, Basho also became a legend, but close identification with Saigyo certainly contributed to his fame in Japan and around the world.

Priest Saigyo's Solitary Life
Saigyo was Basho's predecessor by 500 years. He became a hermit-priest after leaving the elite corps of samurai at the imperial court of Kyoto. He was a favorite of the emperor and empress and a budding poet of waka (the classic Japanese poetry, now called tanka). He may have left because he was tired of the intrigue and decadence of court life. Or perhaps, it was the advances of the empress seventeen years his senior or simply unrequited love. In any event, Saigyo made a life-changing decision to become a priest at 23 years old and took off to live in one hut or another in mountainous regions.

In his spiritual quest and hope for a life of solitude, Saigyo preferred to be a hermit-priest rather than a part of a temple establishment. His admiration for simplicity, solitude and meditation led Saigyo to a vow of poverty. The life he chose was also conducive to writing poetry. Part of his inspiration came from Chinese hermit poets. The simplicity of his life shines in his waka and his natural loneliness is uplifted by the lush nature of his surroundings.


The Saigyo Wannabe
Basho's famous poetic travel diary, Narrow Road to the Deep North (Oku no Hosomichi) is a long haibun (prose with haiku). According to Japanese literary scholar Haruo Shirane, it was "an offering or tribute to the spirit of Saigyo on the five-hundredth anniversary of his death." On his travels, Basho was directed to the actual willow represented in one of Saigyo's waka poems. There is also a Noh Play, Yugyo Yanagi, in which a character representing Basho speaks to the spirit of Saigyo by the willow, as he fantasizes that he was the itinerant monk himself.

The following waka (tanka) of Saigyo's inspired Basho's haiku below:
(translations by Makoto Ueda)

A clear mirror
with just a speck of dust--
yet the eyes
have caught it, the world
having become what it is.

Saigyo



. shiragiku no me ni tatete miru chiri mo nashi .

white chrysanthemum
without a speck of dust
the eyes can catch

Basho



One of Many
Basho was a haiku mentor for numerous younger poets. In his travels, he stayed with poet friends and supporters as he made appearances at haikai events (haikai is a poetry genre that includes linked-verse renga, haibun and hokku). He was considered a master in the circles he moved in, and spent much time discussing haikai aesthetics with his students. His contribution to haikai uplifted and perfected that genre.

In the last years of his life, he gave up his famous hut with banana trees in the city, dressed as a priest, and set out on horseback or foot. Most often accompanied by one or two companions, he stayed with other friends in the provinces and in the capital. Shirane states, however, that "Basho, even at the peak of his career, was only one of a number of prominent haikai masters . . . and was far from having the largest or most influential school."

Two Legendary Poets
Shirane cites scholar and novelist Ueda Akinari (1734-1809), who "believed that Basho's stance as a hermit-traveler was both hypocritical and anachronistic: in contrast to Saigyo and Sogi [another hermit-priest], who lived in periods of turmoil, Basho had no need to be a wanderer."
Within 100 years after his death, stone memorials with Basho's haiku had sprouted across the areas where he had traveled. Some temples and shrines became places for followers to worship Basho. Poet and critic Shiki (1867-1902) observed that "the Basho school is a haikai cult that worshiped Basho as a god and regarded his verses as sacred scripture."

Saigyo is the archtypical hermit-priest and his waka will always be admired. Basho emerged as the most predominant poet of his genre Yet, both men came to be revered as saints. Without being a Saigyo wannabe, Basho probably still would have been as famous as a poet, but he would not have been associated with perpetual hermits, wanderers or priests.


Read more at Suite101: Two Celebrities in the Land of Poets | Suite101.com http://suite101.com/article/two-celebrities-in-the-land-of-poets-a375155#ixzz27oWcuwVi

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- Discussion at Joys of Japan -

Chibi wrote
I feel Saigyo and Bashou wrote poetry under completely separate situations separating the firsts "waka" from the seconds "haikai".


Hideo Suzuki wrote:
I would see Saigyo and Basho were distinct in many ways:

.
A) They were living in completely different eras. During Saigyo's era, e.g. Oushu (奥州) was a land beyond the sovereignty of the imperial government of Kyoto. Just think how difficult was the trip to Oushu. By the time Basho made a trip to Oushu for the famous "oku-no hoso-michi," it was already under the sovereignty of Tokugawa shogunate government. Thus there were well prepared roads and station accomodations in-between.
.
B) Saigyo was born in the year 1118 as high-ranking samurai and served to the imperial court. Among others Goshirakawa Ho-ou. At that time waka was a culture of the aristocrats. One could not live on writing waka. Under misterious reason Saigyo became Buddhist monk. But it is widely known that he was a monk first serving for solicitating donations from the local land lords for the causes of building temples. (This is called as 勧進僧.) He wrote many waka during his trips to various regions of the country. It was much later when he became a kind of hermit-poet priest living in a retreat in Nara.
.
C) As far as known today, some 265 waka of Saigyo were selected to the various waka anthologies including Shin-Kokin-shu. This number is by far outstanding.
.
D) Basho was born in 1644 in a farming family and served to the local samurai in Iga. His hokku was first selected in an anthology in 1664. He went to Edo and became a professional poet in 1678. Edo was a rich city where one could live along just on writing. He had done much for renga but he established the stand alone hokku as a mean for writing poem.
.
E) Basho obviously admired Saigyo. He wrote hokku (or haikai) whenever he encountered sites where Saigyo wrote waka. It seems to me that Basho wanted to follow Saigyo's path along the road to Ohshu. But Basho was not a priest if hermit-poet...


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Oi no Kobumi "Knapsack Notebook":

西行の和歌における、宗祇の連歌における、
雪舟の絵における、利休が茶における、
其の貫道する物は一なり


Saigyo’s waka, Sogi’s renga,
Sesshu’s painting, Rikyu’s tea ceremony –
one thread runs through the artistic Ways.

And this artistic spirit is to follow zoka, to be a companion to the turning of the four seasons. Nothing one sees is not a flower, nothing one imagines is not the moon. If what is seen is not a flower, one is like a barbarian; if what is imagined is not a flower, one is like a beast.
Depart from the barbarian, break away from the beast,
follow zoka, return to zoka.
Tr. Barnhill


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quote
yugyô hijiri tradition

... In addition to the hijiri tradition, Bashō also experiences himself in line with the religio-aesthetic tradition of Japan. This tradition includes not only Saigyō but also the painter Sesshu, the tea master Rikyu, and the renga poet Sōgi. In Bashō's words, this tradition is one of following creation and being a companion to the turning of the four seasons.

... It is important to consider the function of his hijiri-like wandering. In part, traveling the countryside was a form of ascetic practice that sharpened both his poetic creativity and his religious vision. But it also served a specific religious purpose of "re-membering" those of the past, not simply recalling people and events of the past but establishing a spiritual bond (kechien) with special people.

... Bashō consciously patterned his life after the yugyô hijiri ideal of sutemi mujô (abandoning oneself to impermanence), as seen in the first poem in his first journal.

... Bashō's ideal of the wayfaring life. As presented in his journals, his travels are not temporary departures from his normal lifestyle, they are his basic mode of living and his primary religious practice.

It is a religious practice for a variety of reasons. He visits numerous sacred sites and expresses deep spiritual sentiment. We also have mentioned that he is part of the yugyô hijiri tradition and that he seeks a religious state of mind. But more importantly it is a religious practice because for him it embodies the fundamental nature of existence.

THE JOURNALS OF MATSUO BASHŌ
source : Barnhill



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. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .



source :　calligraphy Soseki Aoyagi

西行の草鞋もかかれ松の露　
Saigyoo no waraji mo kakare matsu no tsuyu

Saigyo's sandals:
hang them as well
with the pine's dew.
Tr. Barnhill


Written in 1688

. . . . .


Saigyo's straw sandals
hanging from the pine
tree dew.

This was written on a painting of a pine tree dripping with dew. Basho uses in this one the associative technique. Both dew drops and straw sandals are hanging in the pine. The genius stroke is that Basho could 'see' that his mentor's shoes hung there also.

source : Chèvrefeuille




Memorial stone at temple Choshin-Ji

西行の草鞋もかかれ栢の露
(The kanji here is for a kashiwa oak tree.)

source : michiko328


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瓜作る君があれなと夕涼み
uri tsukuru kimi ga are na to yuusuzumi

you who raised melons:
"would that you were here"
in the evening coolness


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At the Grand Shrine in Ise　伊勢神宮


三十日月なし千年の杉を抱く嵐
misokatsuki nashi sennen no sugi o idaku arashi

month's end, no moon:
a thousand year old cedar
embraced by a windstorm
Tr. Barnhill

mine no matsukaze 峰の松風 - mountain peak with pine wind



何の木の花とはしらず匂かな
nani no ki no hana to wa shirazu nioi kana

. from which tree’s bloom
it comes, I do not know––
this fragrance .
Tr. Ueda

At Ise Yamada 伊勢山田


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source: members.jcom.home.ne.jp/1224006701

At Saigyoo-dani 西行谷 Saigyō Valley
西行谷, Uji Yamada（宇治山田市宇治館町. The sacred 五十鈴川 Isuzugawa river flows through this valley.

One day Saigyo had to take shelter in the valley in a farmhouse because of heavy rain.
The wife of the owner did not want him to stay, but he offered her a poem.
So she wrote a poem back and let him stay over night.
And now Basho had passed this place, with his memories of the story about Saigyo.


芋洗ふ女西行ならば歌よまむ
imo arau onna Saigyoo naraba uta yoman

a woman washes taro -
if Saigyo were here
he would compose a poem

- - - - - other possibilities

a woman washes taro -
if I were Saigyo
I would compose a poem


a woman washes taro -
if she were Saigyo
she would compose a poem

3 Versions by Gabi Greve


The "imo" is a taro potato, grown in the mountain regions of Japan.
. WKD : Taro 芋 sato-imo .

. WKD potato 馬鈴薯 jagaimo, jaga imo . 　



The waka by Saigyō

世の中を厭ふまでこそ難からめ
仮の宿りを惜しむきみかな

yo no naka o itoo made koso katakarame
kari no yadori o oshimu kimi kana

It's hard to despise
the whole world
as a borrowed lodging,
but that you should begrudge me
even one night's lodging!

Tr. source : John Corrigan


Basho visiting
. Ise Jinguu　伊勢神宮 Grand Shrine at Ise - .



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小萩散れますほの小貝小盃　
. ko hagi chire Masuho no ko-gai ko sakazuki .

Two hokku by Basho about the pink Masuho shells,
in memory of Saigyo.


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source :　itoyo/basho
At temple Nanshooji 南照寺 Nansho-Ji in Koga, Mie


西行の庵もあらん花の庭
Saigyoo no iori mo aran hana no niwa

alomst like
the hermitage of Saigyo -
this garden with cherry blossoms
Tr. Gabi Greve


Written about 1684,貞亨元年 or later.

A greeting hokku for Rosen, one of his haikai patrons.
The garden is so beautiful with all the cherry blossoms, it reminded Basho of Mount Yoshino, the Cherry Blossom Mountain, and the hut of Saigyo in the valley.

Naitoo Rosen 内藤露沾 Naito Rosen
(1655 - 1733)
～享保18年（17338）9月14日、享年79歳）died in 1738, at age 79.
He was the second son of the lord of Iwaki 内藤風虎, Fukushima domain. When his elder brother died, he had to take over the family affairs, but retired on grounds of bad health in 1682.
Now he could spent time with his hobby, haikai, in the villa of his domaine in Azabu, Edo, and was a member of the Edo Shomon 江戸蕉門 disciples of Basho.

Mizuma Sentoku 水間沾徳 was his haikai student.
（～享保11年（1726）5月30日）
（1655.6.5）- （1733.10.21）


. WKD : hut, thatched hut 庵 iori .



露とくとく試みに浮世すすがばや　
. tsuyu toku toku kokoromi ni ukiyo susugabaya / tokutoku .
Basho in Yoshino, 1684 - 84.


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命なりわづかの笠の下涼み
. inochi nari wazuka no kasa no shita suzumi .
Oh, life!
Remembering Saigyo at Sayo no Nakayama 小夜の中山



刈り跡や早稲かたかたの鴫の声
. kari ato ya wase katakata no shigi no koe .
the call of a snipe


桜狩り奇特や日々に五里六里
. sakuragari kidoku ya hibi ni go ri roku ri .
hunting for cherry blossoms


田一枚植て立去る柳かな
. ta ichimai uete tachisaru yanagi kana .
Oku no Hosomichi, Station 9 - Sesshoseki 殺生岩



露凍てて筆に汲み干す清水かな
. tsuyu itete hitsu ni kumihosu shimizu kana .
- - - 凍て解けて筆に汲み干す清水哉
ite tokete hitsu ni kumihosu shimizu kana
to soak up clear water with the brush


埋火や壁には客の影法師　
. uzumi-bi ya kabe ni wa kyaku no kagebooshi .
on the wall my own shadow like a visitor - sabishisa ni taeru


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－－－－－　Oku no Hosomichi　奥の細道　－－－－－　

. - Station 16 - Kasajima 笠嶋 - .

. - Station 20 - Sue no Matsuyama 末の松山 and Shiogama 塩釜 - .

. - Station 32 - Kisagata / Kisakata 象潟 - - .


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. Saigyo Hoshi 西行法師 .


. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD . 　

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