Broken and Lost Inside ~ Haiku of Japan
For the Weekly Prompt, Broken, I thought we'd take a look at a haiku from Santōka.
boro utte sake kōte samishiku mo aru ka
and buy saké
will I still be lonely?
—Santōka
When he was 11, his mother killed herself by jumping into the family well. The exact reason why isn't know, but it is supposed it was due to her husband's womanizing, which she complained about in her diary at length. All of Santōka's problems in life sprang from this single event, which affected him tremendously. In his diary, he confessed that the sight of his mother's corpse being raised from the well scarred him greatly. Not long after, the family business failed and his father fled into hiding, his brother killed himself, and his grandmother who raised him also died.
He moved from failure to failure, finally attempting to kill himself at age 42 by standing in front of a train. He survived and was taken to a Sōtō Zen temple, where he eventually became a priest. He enjoyed the Buddhist life, but his inner demons soon led to him moving on.
From that point on, he wandered all over the country, from one end to the other. Always disgusted with himself, he would walk somewhere, compose haiku, beg for money to rent a room and buy sake, get drunk and berate himself in his diary.
The haiku above may remind us of Hōsai and his famous message of loneliness (which I posted about here):
seki o shite mo hitori
I am alone
—Hōsai
He would never entirely beat his demons. Finally in 1938 he settled down in his hermitage near Matsuyama city, one time home of famous haiku poet Shiki. He started gathering his haiku together to publish another book. He died in his sleep, drunk as usual, two years later at the age of 57.
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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. |
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That is, me! If you like this translation, feel free to use it. Just credit me. Also link here if you can. ↩
Is great to have your posts on my feed, is giving me impetus to write.
Keep it up!
Glad you enjoyed it 😃
!PIZZA
Dude, you'll be naked and drunk.
.. is what I wanted to say, before I read his tragic story ...
wow, I was unaware of this poet but it does sound like he was under something of a curse. And it reminds me of a story by one of my favourite authors, Haruki Murakami. In his book 'the wind-up bird chronicals' a well features prominently as a kind of haunted place. I can't remember exactly, as it was so long ago that I read it, maybe due a re-read. Anyway, it makes me wonder if that was partly inspired by this poet's life.
Although it might not be appropriate to his tragic life, the haiku made me laugh when I first read it as I am 2 weeks into a self-imposed drinking ban over the summer at the least, mainly to ensure I stop smoking (as I always end up smoking if I drink).
But the haiku made me laugh because straight away I was in the same mindset... should I throw away all my plans and head off to the pub? 😉
don't worry, it was a fleeting urge 😂
He's one of my favorite haiku poets. His style was very free, so he rarely used nature words and was almost always under 17 syllables, but his haiku pack a rawness and truthfulness that is really attractive. In the past dozen years his popularity has greatly increased with the Japanese public for that very reason. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he is one day held up with the greats.
Good luck with your drinking and smoking ban. I have enough trouble staying away from coffee, so I can't even imagine how difficult keeping away from those two would be!
!PIZZA
What a great Haiku. I always learn new things about Japan thanks to you and what a sad story about him, greetings =)
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