A poetic walk

I think most people are aware of haiku, a form of Japanese poetry. We are taught that it is a poem of seventeen syllables, arranged in three line of five, seven, five syllables and that it evokes images of the natural world. As with many things what seems simple is actually more complicated and one could spend a life time – and many do- mastering the art form. And that’s just in English! Now do it in Japanese!

My Japanese teacher has requested that we write haiku in Japanese.

先生、まだ詩を書いていないことをお詫びします. (This is not a poem it is an apology for not doing my homework....)

One of the masters of the form is the poet Basho, who lived in the mid 1600’s. He wrote, taught and walked to many parts of Japan. But he also lived on and off in what was then Edo, now Tokyo. And not, as it turns out, too far from where we are. There is a walking tour that follows sites related to the poet.

His followers built him a little hut on the banks of a canal and there is a reproduction near there at the beginning of the walk.

A quick chat with the master – perhaps he has some inspiration for me?

The canal is very quiet, just a few ducks paddling along. Mostly the buildings backing on the canal are small residential buildings, most relatively recent builds. It looks like this area is becoming more popular, but there are lots of buildings that look they were built in the 1930’s – kind of art deco/moderne in style.

Along the pathway are plaques with Basho’s poems. There are 16 of them – I’ll show you one that is about spring, since that is the season we are in (yes, really by the old calendar….)

spring is leaving ..

birds sing and the eyes of fish

are full of tears

Not my translation… apparently it evokes the sadness of a final parting on a spring day. Which is not what the pictures shows, but let’s move on.

The whole walk goes for quite a way and we realized that the end point would leave us with a loooong walk back to the metro, so we cut our rambles short and wandered through a park before returning our starting metro station.

I’m glad to have found the walk and hope that Basho-sama will lend me some inspiration so I can do my homework!