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A Study of Japanese Aesthetics in Six Parts by Robert Wilson

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A Study of Japanese Aesthetics in Six Parts by Robert Wilson Dedicated to Sasa Vasic and the late Dr. Michael Marra A Study of Japanese Aesthetics in Six Parts by Robert Wilson Table of Contents Part 1: The Importance of Ma .......................................................p. 2-20 Reprinted from Simply Haiku, Winter 2011, Vol. 8, No. 3. Part 2: Reinventing The Wheel: The Fly Who Thought He Was a Carabaop.................................................................................................p. 21-74 Reprinted from Simply Haiku, Vol. 9. No. 1, Spring 2011 Part 3: To Kigo or Not to Kigo: Hanging From a Marmot’s Mouth ....................................................................................................................p. 75-110 Reprinted from Simply Haiku Summer 2011 Part 4: Is Haiku Dying?....................................................................p. 111-166 Reprinted from Simply Haiku Autumn 2011?Winter 2012 Part 5: The Colonization of JapaneseHaiku .........................p. 167-197 Reprinted from Simply Haiku Summer 2012. Part 6: To Be Or Not To Be: An Experiment Gone Awry....p 198-243 Republished from Simple Haiku, Spring-Summer 2013. Conclusion—What Is and Isn't: A Butterfly Wearing Tennis Shoes ..................................................................................................................p. 244-265 Republished from Simply Haiku Winter 2013. Study of Japanese Aesthetics: Part I The Importance of Ma by Robert Wilson "The man who has no imagination has no wings." - Muhammad Ali Every day I read haiku and tanka online in journals and see people new to these two Japanese genres posting three to five poems per day, as if the composition of haiku and tanka were the easiest thing to do in the world. Oftentimes their output lacks meter, and are far from memorable. What is the popular perception of Japanese short form poetry in the English- language poetic community? Why are various journals today showcasing some of these same haiku and tanka for publication? Is it because no one's adequately defined the rudiments and heart sense of the two genres? Are English tanka and haiku distinct from Japanese tanka and haiku, having become their own individualized poetic expressions, thus new genres lacking a consistent set of rules to follow? Perhaps Western interpretations of these genres (most vary), heralded, defended, and defined by many poetry associations and like-minded journals, are indicative of an identity crisis which, again, raises the question of why? I read the articles regarding the why and what a Western haiku should be and not be, yet come away unconvinced. Yes, the syllable tonal length in the English language differs from that used in the Japanese language (their syllables aren’t syllables as Westerners know and understand syllables. They are shorter in intonation, and oftentimes contain more than one beat, whereas in an English syllable, each syllable is one beat, thus, when a Westerner taught in public or private school to write a haiku using a 5/7/5 meter, composes a haiku, the result is oftentimes an awkward sounding haiku). Very few Western haiku poets disagree on this point and have adjusted their haiku to fit into a schemata utilizing a shorter amount of syllables. What's agreed upon and disagreed upon are the pieces of the puzzle missing. With so many opinions and theories, it's easy to tell that something's not right. Poets new to haiku and tanka need direction, knowledge, and homework before they settle into a routine, wax self-confident, and disseminate their poetry in venues other than on on-line and off-line workshops and in Facebook conversations, extending their misconceptions regarding the two genres to people who, for the most part, will never attend a tanka or haiku club meeting, participate in a poetry workshop, read a journal, let alone study the form from an academic perspective other than the uninformed crap they read in school textbooks; then share their misconceptions with others, etc. The Japanese aesthetic terms: ma, sabi, yugen, makoto, kigo, etc.: what do these terms mean? They pop up in books, journals and on the Internet, yet finding a clear definition for any of these terms is next to impossible. I have trouble finding anything about these terms on or off-line written in layman’s language, and the definitions vary between writers. Is a lack of understanding of these terms and the failure by many poets to see the value of using Japanese aesthetics in their poetry, coupled with the stance taken by some "Western" haiku, tanka, haibun, and haiga on- and off-line journal editors, who feel that breaking the rules of the aforementioned Japanese poetic genres, are essential if "Western" poets want an authentic voice that is non- Japan-centric; the reason for what appears to be the Western bastardization of Japanese short form poetry? Take, for example, the following haiku used in a haibun published by a popular Western European poetry journal: the oil is getting low - his thoughts are of autumn sleep Richard Pettit Pettit's quasi three verse haiku lacks the magic infused into a successful haiku via the utilization of ma and other Japanese aesthetic tools that transform a short poem into a multi-dimensional entity that leaps from the obvious to the metaphysical, inviting the reader to interpret what the poet wrote. To illustrate my point, compare the latter with following haiku by Buson: That little fox, What made him cough --- In a field with bush clover? Kogitsune no nani ni musekemu kohagihara Yosa Buson Translated by Edith M. Shiffert and Yuki Sawa Buson's poem hints at something that the reader must interpret. The (animist/shamanistic) mention of the fox makes me wonder if this is an allegorical reference or a real animal in the space between lines two and three, which the Japanese call ma. Buson's poem is mystical, swathed with yugen (depth and mystery). Like an echo after the clang of a brass bell, Buson's haiku lingers in my mind after reading it; an echo that reverberates each time I read it. In the next several issues of Simply Haiku, I will examine some of the tools available for tanka and haiku poets; tools that'll help us to understand the genres better and, in turn, compose better haiku and tanka that are indigenous to the genres as they were designed to be taught and handed down to Westerners by the two genres’ originators. Still alive, They are frozen in one lump: Sea slugs Matsuo Basho Translated by Makoto Ueda What does it mean to westernize haiku and other forms of Japanese short form poetry? The following haiku was written in Eastern Europe, an area considered to be a part of the West. Is this, then, an example of Western haiku? Is geography a deciding factor? The use of English? The poet's cultural memory, coupled with one's experience, education, and outlook towards the metaphysical define a haiku. All of us on this planet are individuals. I read the haiku below and see it as an authentic haiku. It doesn't tell all, it makes use of ma (time and space), yugen (depth and mystery), utilizes the meter indigenous to haiku. No haiku is indigenous to its geographical locale, nor to the racial, ethnic, or spiritual make-up of its author. dark afternoon . kicking a stone down the path with my winter shoe Sasa Vazic Serbia The haiku above was written in Eastern Europe (the West), the one below, in Asia (the East). Both in their native language utilize the S/L/S metric schemata indigenous to haiku and both utilize Japanese aesthetic tools. The aforementioned tools are more than just a geographical region's aesthetics. They are specific tools essential to the creation of a specific genre. The utilization of "Western" aesthetics as taught by Caucasoid European and North American universities, for the most part, lack the metaphysical mindset needed to elevate a haiku into the "ma" of what is and isn't. A haiku must transcend the said, mount the unsaid, in a timeless moment, one's senses intertwined in an undefined orgasm of then, now, and will; like Alice, jumping into the white rabbit's black hole, feeling the wind, caressed by darkness, chasing what could or could not be in a dream inside a dream, independent of preconceptions. airing out kimonos as well as her heart is never enough Chiyo-ni Translated by Patricia Donegan and Yoshie - - - - - Out of The stillness Of my breast Emerges The rising moon; And when I turn to look at it --- The moon In clumps of cloud. shizuka naru / waga mune wakete / izuru tsuki / furisakemireba / murakumo no tsuki Shotetsu Translated by Steven D. Carter The next tanka, written by an American, is also beautiful, making good use of the Japanese aesthetic tools: sabi, yugen, and ma. The pause creating the ma is at the end of line three: when I am gone doctors will donate this heart to someone else only to find you deep within the scar tissue Kathy Lippard Cobb It was awarded an honorable mention in a California based tanka contest recently. The winning tanka deviates from the meter indigenous to tanka which many "Western" editors are claiming as allowable due to what they allege to be a difference in tonality and iambic pentameter indigenous to the West's conceptualization of poetry. They are quick to label those who disagree as Japan- centric or Japanophiles; a labeling that's ignorant and based on generalities, which cannot apply to Westerners in general unless one applies this assumption, based upon their ethnicity, and "buy in" to the philosophical theories propagated by Anglo-files and Anglo-centrics. I write this with a smile because to write good haiku and tanka, membership in a 'phile,' be it Japanese or Anglo, is irrelevant. Tanka (Japanese song) is called that for a reason . "The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." Aristotle If tanka was just another name for the general term, song, my critique would be mute.
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