Our Time at the Pond
By Ian Rogers
Introduction
In this
anthology of Japanese poetry, I used the “association and progression” approach
to select and organize these poems. Each poem is arranged according to where it would
fall in a seasonal progression, from Spring to winter. The idea for this anthology
came from Basho’s famous frog hokku and Buson’s frog hokku, honoring and
remembering Basho’s life and poetry. The poetry in this anthology is bookended
by the frog poems, with Basho’s Spring frog poem at the beginning, and Buson’s
winter frog poem at the end. While these two align chronologically, this
anthology is not in chronological order. The poems in between are connected by
association, loosely following a narrative of youth, beauty, and love of life
towards a more reflective and emotional end. This reflects Basho's life and his legacy, which Buson carried on. Together, these poems capture the joy of
life, but are coupled with the burdens of grief and impermanence.
Basho Haiku & Out
in the Streets: #829. Spring [1685] (Basho)
At an old pond,
a frog takes a sudden plunge.
The sound of water.
Discussion:
This
simple poem employs beautiful imagery to really examine a moment in time. This
was Basho’s specialty: painting images that are vibrant and powerful, fully
taking advantage of every syllable. To start the anthology with this poem, one
can be led to think about the moment. The past and future fade away as one
mindfully acknowledges their senses in the now. Something as ordinary as a frog
jumping into the water in an old murky pond is hardly a rare sight, but it is
nonetheless evocative. This youthful frog carries with it youthful ignorance of
anything beyond the moment.
Salad Anniversary
excerpts Jack Stam trans: PDF Page 8 (Tawara Machi)
Shower shelter
under a little street-stand,
a glass of sake ...
What a happy, happy thing,
To be, and be alive.
Discussion:
This poem
jumps us hundreds of years into the future chronologically, but nonetheless
connects well with Basho’s poem. Tawara Machi captured a moment. This is a
moment of pure enjoyment of life. Even while having to take shelter from the
rain, life is good. It acknowledges the moment and reaffirms that happy moments
like this one bring us the joy of living. Again, we are still reveling in the
ordinary, as nothing about this moment is exceptional, and yet it resonates with
us.
Ariwara no Narihira
poetry: #109. Felicitations. Composed when there was a fortieth-year
celebration for the Horikawa Chancellor at the Kujō Mansion (Ariwara no
Narihira)
Scatter at random,
O blossoms of the cherry,
and cloud the
heavens,
that you may conceal the path
old age is said to
follow.
Discussion:
This poem
was written as a celebration for a chancellor who is facing a large milestone
in their life, their fortieth birthday. This poem, much like the last, advises us
to keep our eyes on the ground. While Tawara Machi was sheltered by a street
stand, this poem opts to use cherry blossoms to keep us grounded and focused on
the moment over the future. The acknowledgment of the path to the heavens serves
to introduce the idea of mortality and death, but advises we should remain
willfully ignorant anyway.
Kokinshu sequence
(from Spring 2): #182. Spring. [late 9th century] (Otomo no Kuronushi)
Everyone feels grief
when cherry blossoms scatter.
Might they then be tears-
those drops of moisture falling
in the gentle rains of spring?
Discussion:
This poem
employs cherry blossoms to a different effect, acknowledging the grief that comes
with impermanence. This poem discards willful ignorance of mortality and instead
chooses to face it head-on. Impermanence is painted as part of the world, which
ties into Buddhist beliefs like Mujo. It also employs a sort of animism that
fits with Shinto, by turning the rain into nature’s tears. I like the contrast
between this poem and the last, from using the cherry blossoms to hide impermanence
to thinking about them embodying impermanence. This shows a shift in how we view
the world around us. No longer are we fully in the moment, but rather,r we are coping
with reality and trying to understand grief.
Basho Travel
Accounts: Page 537 (Basho)
A dream of warriors,
and after dreaming is
done,
the summer grasses.
Discussion:
This poem
moves into the realm of contemplation of life and the past. After visiting an
old battlefield, Basho writes this account. Little remained except for some
mounds in the dirt among summer grass. This poem is fully rooted in impermanence,
as little to nothing remains except a dream of a battle in the past. Time has turned
the battlefield into a simple field of grass. Acknowledging the past is good,
but we are still brought back to the moment after the dream fades, and the
summer grasses take the focus back.
Gotoba Teika
Shinkokinshu: Autumn [1181] (Teika)
If you think on it,
you can see no change in color
on Heaven's High Plain:
Autumn is not in the
sky
but in the light of the moon.
Discussion:
This poem is also entirely contemplative
and serves as the only autumn poem in this collection. While autumn is popular
for the emphasis on impermanence with the slow changing of leaves and shift in
weather, it doesn’t fit quite as well when focusing on grief, which shows
itself as more of a winter topic (death). The poem states that the heavens,
like the clouds and sky, remain the same regardless of season. This observation
calls back to other poems that sought to avoid looking up to heaven. We are now
confronting heaven directly, and the moonlight allows us to better view the
effects of autumn around us.
Carter Early Medieval
Age: #272. LAMENTS. [From a hundred-poem sequence] (Fujiwara no Shunzei)
How is it that ducks
are able to stay
afloat
out on the water,
while I feel myself
sinking
even here on the land?
Discussion:
This poem
connects back to the pond theme and the wet motif that many of these poems
have been carrying. I think it adequately represents what it feels like to be
buried by grief. In moments where grief hits you, it can feel as though you can
barely stand. Sometimes life feels as though it is pulling you down. Nature,
perplexingly, continues on regardless. Ducks will keep floating, despite our
emotions. I think that this poem suggests some sort of constancy in nature
despite the impermanence of it all.
Buson and Issa Poems:
#994. Winter (Buson)
At that old pond
The frog is growing old now-
among fallen leaves.
Discussion:
This is
the poem that truly inspired this anthology. A beautiful reference to Basho’s masterful
poem and a frank acknowledgement of the passage of time and passing of Basho. Being
a winter poem, it is rooted in death. The frog is surely close to death and
surrounded by death. Despite this, we are simply back to just being in the
moment among this imagery. Judgements, ponderings about impermanence and death,
they all don’t really matter. Nature moves on regardless, and time keeps going.
Ultimately, we are always bound to the moment, despite all our philosophizing.
Conclusion
This
anthology took me on a journey of mindfulness and being present. I hope that
some of that has been conveyed. Dealing with loss is a heavy topic, and there
are a lot of ways to approach it. I find Buson’s frog poem really captures
the essence of paying homage respectfully and thoughtfully. This anthology reflects
a lot of Japanese thought on not only grief, but impermanence and the value of
nature. I hope you enjoyed.
Bonus: Scrapped Idea
One idea
I had while composing these after acknowledging grief as a theme was the 5
stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. Many of
these stages, such as depression and acceptance, are easy to find in the
literature and are present in this anthology. Unfortunately, I struggled to find
poems that fit the other stages, especially for anger. I challenge the reader
to look for poetry that could fit in an anthology of the stages of grief.
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