posted 02-12-14 00:23 AM CT (US)
half buried in the ground -
my life,
which has not flowered,
comes to this sad end."
- Minamoto Yorimasa (1106-1180)
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Go on a journey to Edo period Japan in the straw sandals of a Ronin seeking a master. Discover
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Disgrace.
Disgrace is a kimono unstained with blood. Disgrace is a dry tanto blade. Disgrace is a ronin.
His master died seven years ago but the Ronin chose not to honor his master with a final act of obedience. His devotion was hollow, his honor was stained. In betraying the Bushido Shoshinshu, the Ronin condemned himself to that most empty life for a samurai: a life without a master.
So the Ronin wandered the land of the rising sun for seven years, adrift like a boat without a fisherman on Lake Biwa. His journey would bring him here to another kindred wanderer, the poet Matsuo Basho. On quiet rainy mornings in the garden of their secluded shrine. On sunny afternoons in the shade of the osakazuki maple. And on warm evenings in Basho's sukiya, place for poetic pursuits, over thick matcha tea, the two lonely spirits traded experiences and lines of poetry with the vigor of the shrewdest merchants of Nagasaki. It was Basho's spirited teachings that brought forth a new dawn out of the Ronin's winter sunset. It was Basho who taught the Ronin to see the poetry in life.
And so one day, as the songbird's melody rode a soft summer breeze, the Ronin emerged from his hermitage and set out again onto the world. He would regain his honor. He would find a master. He would write a new life.
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The poem begins on a secluded coast in a region of low land forest. Following a wooded path north then southwest leads to a fishing village honored to be the birthplace of a skilled tayu of an emerging puppet theater genre emanating from Osaka. The trail leaves the village leading north across rich rice paddies irrigated by a stream that flows down a waterfall overlooking the same fishing village. Beyond this stream is the Daimyo's hirajiro, a castle built on a flat plain. The hirajiro is bisected by another stream, across which lies the Daimyo's honmaru, or keep. An island off the coast and somewhere to the south is home to a band of fierce Wako pirates.
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According to the Bushido Shoshinshu (Code of the Samurai), a samurai must commit seppuku (ritual suicide) upon the death of his master. One who chose not to honor the code and consequently become a ronin, or 'wave man', would suffer great shame. Due to the shogunate's rigid class system and laws, the number of ronin greatly increased during the Edo period (1603-1867).
This period was characterized by strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture. Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) was the most famous poet of the period. He was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form. Although justifiably famous for his haiku, Basho himself believed his best work lay in leading and participating in renku, collaborative linked verse poetry. He is quoted as saying, "Many of my followers can write haiku as well as I can. Where I show who I really am is in linking haikai verses."
Basho made a living as a teacher but, renouncing the urban life, wandered throughout Japan to gain inspiration for his writing. His poetry was influenced by his firsthand experiences of the world around him, encapsulating the feeling of a scene in a few simple elements.
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[This message has been edited by Al_Kharn the Great (edited 03-04-2014 @ 10:29 PM).]
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