by Hiroaki Sato
soon too few to hold a hairpin up.
Having explained a bit about “castle” and “city,” I might add that something similar can be said of the word “nation” in Watson’s translation. The original Chinese character for it, which appears at the outset of the poem, is 國 (guo), and it may not really mean “nation” as it does today, or at least the word is subject to various interpretations. Tu Fu wrote “Spring Prospect” in 757, when the Tang dynasty was in disarray. General An Lushan—thought to have been from Samarkand, born of a Sogdian (Persian) father and a Tujue (Turkish) mother—revolted at the end of 755, forcing Emperor Xuanzong to flee Chang’an, the western capital. Tu Fu evacuated the city with his family at the outset of the rebellion, but around Eighth Month 756, on his way to Lingwu where Xuanzong’s son had established his court as the new emperor, he was captured by the rebels and sent back to Chang’an, where he was held as a hostage. The rebellion seriously weakened the Tang, though the dynasty didn’t die out until 908.
With this in mind, the Japanese scholar of classical Chinese poetry Kurokawa Yōichi notes in his commentary on Tu Fu that the character 國, “nation,” here actually refers to Chang’an, and 城, “city,” to the town within the enclosure, that is, the “Chang’an Castle.” There certainly are translators who agree with him as the large online assemblage of English translations of the same poem show. For the word 國 alone, the interpretations run the gamut from “country,” “state,” “empire,” “city,” “kingdom,” “nations” (plural),” “Kingdom” capitalized, and “land,” to, yes, “Chang’an.”
Matsuo Bashō revered Tu Fu. You might say that his famous account of his five-month trek to the north late in his life, Narrow Road to the Interior, is an homage to Tu Fu’s “Spring Prospect.” In recalling the rise and fall of the warrior commander Minamoto no Yoshitsune, he rephrased the opening two lines of the poem into the following hokku.
夏艸や兵共か夢の跡
Natsukusa ya tsuwamono-domo ga yume no ato
Summer grass: where the warriors used to dream
In a hokku he jotted down as he set out on his journey, Bashō alluded to the third and fourth lines of the same poem.
行春や鳥啼魚の目は泪
Yuku haru ya tori naki uo no me wa namida
Departing spring: birds cry and, in the eyes of fish, tears
To go back to the plaque at the Met, it continues: “Like ‘Flower in the Mirror,’ [‘Moon in the Water’] suggests something that cannot be grasped and has both positive and negative connotations.”
The term “water-moon” is one of the thirty-three (or six, seven, or fifteen) manifestations of the Great Buddha of Compassion and Sorrow, Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin 観音 in Chinese; Kannon in Japanese). In English Avalokiteśvara is translated as “The Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds” by Burton Watson and “The Bodhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World” by Gene Reeves. This Buddha, conceived as male, later manifested as a female, as in the Sahasrabhuja Ārya Avalokiteśvara (Qianshou Guanyin 千手観音 in Chinese, Senju Kannon in Japanese). It means “Thousand-Hand Buddha,” each hand ready to be extended for succor.
In Buddhist cosmology, which partly derives from Brahmanism, the moon is one of the Twelve Heavenly Protectors, of which four are responsible for the four main bodies: Heaven, Earth, Sun, and Moon—and the eight others, for the eight directions: East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, Northwest, North, and Northeast. The moon protector, Candra (Yuetian 月天 in Chinese, and Gatten in Japanese), deifies the moonlight. Though he—sorry! not female like Selene or Artemis—also symbolizes clarity (as in the West, for example, in Claude Debussy’s “Claire de Lune”), the Lunar Deity is accompanied by a host of Heavenly Women who thoroughly satisfy his Five Desires—of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body.
In German Romanticism, the moon was celebrated as something more mysterious and profound, says Sabine Rewald in the Met catalogue Caspar David Friedrich: Moonwatchers, citing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and Frédéric Chopin’s twenty-one nocturnes—this despite the fact, Rewald notes, that by the end of the eighteenth century, people so inclined were able to use advanced telescopes to see the surface of the moon in great detail and that images that were “unsurpassed in beauty and general accuracy” were made.
Dōgen, the founder in Japan of the Sōtō (Caodong in Chinese) school of Zen Buddhism, used the image of “water-moon” to explain enlightenment:
For a man to attain enlightenment is like the moon lodging in the water. The moon does not get wet, the water does not break. The moon, though its light is wide and large, lodges in the slightest bit of water. The entire moon, the whole sky, lodges in a dewdrop on the grass, lodges in a drop of water. Enlightenment does not break a man just as the moon does not pierce the water.
“Water-moon” also means the moon reflected in the water itself, of course, and suggests something insubstantial, illusory, phantom. And that inevitably brings to mind another of Bashō’s hokku:
名月や池をめぐりて夜もすがら
Meigetsu ya ike o megurite yo mo sugara
Clear moon: going around the pond all night long
The question is: Is this interpretation of the hokku as translated correct? There is a prose-cum-verse piece by one of Bashō’s disciples, Takarai Kikaku, describing the circumstances of the writing of this hokku. Included in his Collection of Miscellaneous Talks (Zōtanshū), published in 1692, it says:
In the Year of the Hare [Fourth Year of Jōkyō, 1687], to view the moon at the Bashō Hut, we got out a boat and went there [when Bashō came up with]:
名月や池をめぐって夜もすがら
Meigetsu ya ike o megutte yo mo sugara
Clear moon: going along the pond all night long
We invited him out on our boat, but because the people out on boats and across the Big Bridge [Ōhashi] vying for the moon were so many and made such noise, we rowed toward the more lonesome direction. Each of us was struggling to make a hokku, when Senka’s servant, warming sake near the bow for us [came up with this]:
名月は汐にながるゝ小舟哉
Meigetsu wa shio ni nagaruru kobune kana
Clear moon: drifting in the tides our skiff
We, from Bashō on down, were impressed, while embarrassed at ourselves. We returned when we heard the bell of midnight.
Bashō’s residence was near the Big River (Ōkawa), at the time the name given to that part of the Sumida River close to the bay. Senka, another of Bashō’s disciples, is known to have edited Frog Matches (Kawazu awase) in 1686, an anthology of two dozen paired frog hokku inspired by Bashō’s pond-frog piece, but neither his surname nor his dates remain, nor those of his servant, whose name is merely given as Kōun. However, Kikaku goes on to explain where the two names come from: “Senka” from a prose poem by Su Tung-p’o on the Red Cliff—a place on the Yangtze River where, in 208, Liubei’s small army famously trounced Caocao’s overwhelmingly large army—and “Kōun” from the Collected Biographies of Immortals (Liexianyun), compiled by Liu Xiang. In fact, the atmosphere of this moon-viewing on a boat echoes that described by Su Tung-p’o’s prose poem.
I must make it clear that the only difference between the two “clear moon” versions of Bashō’s hokku is between the verbs megurite and megutte, which may be comparable to the difference between “is not” and “isn’t,” so my translation of the hokku as cited by Kikaku is slightly contrived. Also, Bashō’s hokku had already appeared earlier, in an anthology published in Third Month of the same year compiled by Esa Shōhaku, and since “the clear moon” is a subject for autumn, in particular the fifteenth of Eighth Month, it must be assumed that Bashō had composed it at least in the fall of the previous year.
Still, Kikaku was likely to be telling the truth. Bashō must have presented one of his earlier pieces on the occasion of this excursion to view the
moon—a piece he had composed walking around the pond by his house. Bashō had no profession or fixed income and largely depended on his friends and patrons for his livelihood. Sugiyama Sanpū, a wealthy fish wholesaler who provided the shogunate with fresh fish and who studied hokku with Bashō, donated a house, more likely a shack, we imagine, in Fukagawa near the Big River for him to live in, while several others chipped in for his daily needs. Near the house was a pond in which Sanpū stocked fish. This may explain the “in the eyes of fish, tears” that was used in a hokku cited earlier.
Bashō is the Japanese name for the fiber banana. His real name was Matsuo Munefusa, and he adopted the plant’s name as a haikai sobriquet, because he loved the way its leaves were “easy to tear in wind and rain,” as he put it in “Note on Replanting a Bashō,” a haibun he wrote when the plant thrived after a student gave him a single root. In time, his dwelling was called Bashō Hut.
Less than a year after Bashō’s death, the haikai poet Tōchō went with a few friends to see the spot where the poet used to live. He reported what he found in his 1695 collection of hokku and haikai Migrant Birds (Wataridori):
We took a look at the old hut of the Venerable Man in Fukagawa. The bashō remained, but the gate was closed. The plum tree, the willow, and such had been replanted somewhere else, stirring our hearts. Bashō had talked of the moon on a clear night “going around the pond,” but the pond was now almost buried, so there was no way into it, with the reeds making me wonder if they were to evoke people of the past. . . .
I do not really understand the original of the last part of the last sentence so you better not trust my translation of it.
Glossary of Terms
daisan 第三: The third verse unit in a renga.
fūga 風雅: Elegance, refinement. Often used to mean any of the refined arts, such as poetry. The same is true of fūkyō and fūryū.
fūkyō 風狂: Poetic dementia.
fūryū 風流: Unworldly; a poetic turn of mind.
ginkō 吟行: Walking around or making a trip, usually in a group, for haiku inspiration.
haibun 俳文: Prose written with a haikai spirit; often accompanied by a hokku or two.
haijin 俳人: Someone who is dedicated to haiku composition.
haikai 俳諧: Humorous, demotic, nontraditional, unorthodox; not following court-defined rules in diction and allusion. Usually applied to renga, in which case the proper term is haikai no renga. Sometimes denotes hokku.
haiku 俳句: In standard Japanese formation and definition, a verse made of 5-7-5 syllables, incorporating a seasonal word or phrase, kigo or kidai, and most often written in one line. Called “haiku” until the end of the nineteenth century; the term “haiku” is also retroactively applied to hokku. Universally adopted and most often written in three lines. In Japan and elsewhere, haiku is also any piece of writing its writer calls haiku.
han-kasen 半歌仙: Haikai no renga completed in eighteen verse units. See kasen.
hokku 発句: The opening verse of renga. It gradually became an independent form, and in the early twentieth century, the term “haiku” took over. In this book, hokku is at times used interchangeably with haiku.
hyakuin 百韻: The standard renga consisting of a total of 100 (hyaku) verse units.
kajin 歌人: Tanka poet.
kanji 漢字: Chinese characters (to some extent adapted for Japanese use).
kanshi 漢詩: Verse written in classical Chinese in accordance with classical Chinese prosody. Commonly written in Japan until the 1920s.
kasen 歌仙: Poetic saint. In versification, it denotes haikai no renga consisting of 36 verse units. So used, the term derives from the 36 poets designated as poetic saints by the poet Fujiwara no Kintō (966–1041).
kidai 季題: Seasonal subject. Usually the same as kigo.
kigo 季語: Word or phrase that designates one of the four or five seasons—the fifth one being “the New Year.”
kireji 切れ字: Cutting word. A particle that is expected to make a verse phrase or a verse independent, most commonly ya and kana. Bashō did not recognize any kireji. In non-Japanese haiku, it is expressed often as a colon, semicolon, or dash.
kukai 句会: A gathering to compose haiku.
renga 連歌: Linked verse. Poetic form made by combining 5-7-5- and 7-7-syllabic units alternately, up to a total of 100, hyakuin. This form originated in the tendency of the tanka to break up into the upper hemistich of 5-7-5-syllables and the lower hemistich of 7-7. A literary game usually played by two or more people, it comes with complicated rules.
renku 連句: Haikai no renga, usually kasen. A modern term used retroactively.
senryū, senryu 川柳: Satirical hokku or haiku. By nature, distinction between hokku or haiku and senryū is often hard to make.
shijin 詩人: Poet. In Japan, someone who writes non-tanka, non-haiku poems.
sōshō 宗匠: Master. In versification, someone knowledgeable about haikai no renga. Bashō was so regarded.
tanka 短歌: A 5-7-5-7-7-syllable verse in standard Japanese definition usually expressed in one line with no punctuation. In non-Japanese languages often composed in five lines.
tanzaku 短冊: An oblong piece of paper or board, usually decorative, on which a haiku or tanka is written.
teikei 定型: Set syllabic form.
tenja 点者: A judge in haikai no renga and senryū.
wakiku 脇句, waki脇: The second unit in renga.
yūki 有季 : Inclusion of a kigo. Often used with teikei to denote a traditional haiku.
za 座: Seat; gathering. A gathering for haikai no renga or haikai.
Glossary of Names
(Japanese, unless nationality is otherwise noted.)
Akechi Mitsuhide 明智光秀 (1528–82): Warlord.
Akiyama Saneyuki 秋山真之 (1868–1918): Vice chief of staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
An Lushan 安緑山 (705–57): Chinese general during Tang dynasty who revolted against Emperor Xuanzong.
Andō Nobutomo 安藤信友 (1671–1732): Daimyo of the Matsuyama Fiefdom.
Andō Tsuguo 安東次男 (1919–2002): Haiku critic, poet, translator of French literature.
Anzai Fuyue 安西冬衛 (1898–1965): Poet.
Ashikaga Yoshimochi 足利義持 (1386–1428): Fourth Ashikaga shogun.
Aston, W. G. (1841–1911): British diplomat and scholar of Japanese literature.
Awano Seiho 阿波野青畝 (1899–1992): Haiku poet.
Azuma Kenzō 東謙三 (dates unknown): Twentieth-century haiku poet; Mitsuhashi Takajo’s husband.
Baker, Richard (b. 1936): American Zen master.
Bickerton, William Maxwell (1901–66): New Zealand scholar of Japanese literature.
Bostok, Janice M. (1942–2011): Australian haiku writer.
Bowers, Faubion (1917–99): American scholar of Asian studies; interpreter for General Douglas MacArthur after Japan’s surrender; author of books on Japanese theater.
Butchō 仏頂 (1642–1715): Zen monk.
Chamberlain, Basil Hall (1850–1935): British Japanologist.
Chōchōshi 長嘯子. See Kinoshita Katsutoshi.
Creel, Herrlee G. (1905–94): American sinologist and philosopher.
Den Sutejo 田捨女 (1634–98): Haikai poet.
Dōgen 道元 (1200–53): Buddhist priest and Zen master.
Dower, John W. (b. 1938): American historian of Japanese history.
Ebara Taizō 潁原退蔵 (1894–1948): Scholar of classical literature.
Esa Shōhaku 江左尚白 (1650–1722): Physician, haiku poet.
Falkman, Kai (b. 1934): Swedish diplomat, haiku poet.
Fontanesi, Antonio (1818–82): Italian painter who taught in Japan for a while.
Fubasami Fusae 文挟夫佐恵 (1914–2014): Haiku poet.
Fujita Tsuguharu 藤田嗣治 (1886–1968): Japanese painter.
Fujiwara no Kintō 藤原公任 (966–1041): Tanka poet and scholar.
Fujiwara no Shunzei 藤原俊成 (1114–1204): Tanka poet.
Fujiwara no Tamekane 藤原為兼 (1254–1333): Tanka poet.
Fujiwara no Teika 藤原定家 (1162–1241): Tanka poet.
Geng Wei 耿湋 (8th century): Chinese poet.
Giles, Herbert A. (1845–1935): British sinologist.
Gordon, Chris (b. 1966): American haiku poet.
Go Shunmei 呉俊明 (1700–81): Painter; real surname was Igarashi 五十嵐, Go being a Chinese affectation.
Gotoba 後鳥羽 (1180–1239): Eighty-second emperor.
Gyōyū 行祐 (12th century): Buddhist monk.
Hanshan 寒山 (9th century?): Legendary Chinese Chan (Zen) monk and classical poet.
Hara Sekitei 原石鼎 (1889–1951): Haiku poet.
Hasegawa Reiyoshi 長谷川零余子 (1886–1928): Haiku poet.
Hasegawa Sosei 長谷川素逝 (1907–46): Haiku poet.
Hashiba Hideyoshi 羽柴秀吉 (1536–98): One of the names of the unifier of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Hashimoto Keiji 橋本鶏二 (1907–90): Haiku poet.
Hashimoto Mudō 橋本夢道 (1903–74): Haiku poet in the proletarian movement.
Hashimoto Takako 橋本多佳子 (1899–1963): Haiku poet.
Hatano Sōha 波多野爽波 (1923–91): Haiku poet.
Hattori Tohō 服部土芳 (1657–1730): Haikai poet and essayist.
Hayashi Tōyō 林桐葉 (d. 1712): Haikai poet.
Hayashibara Raisei 林原耒井 (1887–1975): Scholar of English literature; haiku poet.
Haydn, Franz Joseph (1732–1809): Austrian composer.
Hearn, Lafcadio (1850–1904): Japanese name: Koizumi Yakumo (小泉八雲); Greek-born English author of many books about Japan.
Henderson, Harold (1889–1974): American art historian, haiku poet, Japanologist.
Higashi Kyōzō 東京三 (1901–77): Haiku poet.