From the fractured haiku collection.
On the anniversary of Matsuo Bashō’s death,
November 28, 2025
partially puzzled,
and warily wondering
what Bashō would think…
The last line could be changed to say, “Would Bashō approve…” But sadly, he’s not here to say.
RIP: Matsuo Bashō, master of the haiku, who died surrounded by friends, November 28, 1694 (age 50 years), Osaka, Japan
Matsuo Basho must have wondered what his legacy would be. I suppose...
I suppose
I’ll fade as all flowers
and poets do
.
as clouds that gather
and dissipate
in the summer heat
.
as thoughts
that cross one’s mind
from time to time
.
one forgets
when one is done
I suppose
— Bashō no yōna, thinking about Matsuo Basho
They keep wheeling people by
But not you
So I wait
.
Finally, to hear a name
And then to loudly shout
That’s me!
What Matsuo Basho might have thought or said had he had to sit in a hospital waiting room.
Don’t follow me.
古人の跡をもと めず、古人の求たる所をもとめよ
Matsuo Basho quoting Kūkai (空海, 774 – 835), a Japanese Buddhist
Kojin no ato o motomezu, kojin no motomeshi tokoro o motomeyo
Seek not the way of the ancients, seek what they sought.
(Follow not the the footsteps of the ancients, seek what they sought.)
Basho, quoting Kukai (Kobo Daishi), spoke these words to his student, the samurai, Morikawa Kyoroku. The characters 古人, kojin means an ancient (great) person of the past.
Kūkai promoted the Indian philosophy of Dharma, behavior in harmony with life.
Kyoroku was skilled in the six arts of swordsmanship, horsemanship, spear throwing, calligraphy, painting, and haiku, but especially in painting. Basho considered Kouroku his master in this art. “Isn’t it admirable that there are many things to learn, but the result of that learning is only one?”
“Seek and ye shall find,” says Matthew (7:7-8), meaning God is kind, eager to give good gifts to those who believe in Christ. Basho (Kyoruku), however, is not seeking religion but the “inner self.” No John Denver, “follow me in what I do where I go what I do, …” Blaze your own trail, as Laozi suggests in the Tao de Ching.
Basho later added, “Don’t copy me, like two halves of a melon.”
Finally, Oscar Wilde’s witticism, “Be yourself because everybody else is taken.”
Kojin (Gǔrén, Chinese for the ancient wise men) no ato (and their tracks, footsteps, i.e. the Way)
求める motomeru — to seek
求たる motometeru — to be seeking
もと めず motomezu — not seek
もとめよ motomeyo — seek, said in a way you are trying to change someone’s understanding
The Power of Dumb
Could be the smartest thing …
You’ve ever done
— Bashō no yōna
When Matsuo Basho spoke of leaving Edo and moving south of the Sumida River to a cottage all alone, his friends said that was dumb. When he decided to make a journey on foot into Japan’s northern interior, his friends warned of bandits and thieves. When Matsuo Basho thought back about becoming a haiku poet, he was amazed at how smart he had been.
Dumb ideas can make our lives interesting. That was the point of a TEDx talk by Alex Wadelton. Now you need to ask yourself, is it dumb to watch?
Buddhist, Shinto, Tao — the question often asked is, what religion did Matsuo Basho follow?
Matsuo Basho studied Buddhism and Buddhist like to claim him for their own, saying he studied under Butcho. And Basho emulated the Buddhist monk Saiygo in his travel and reclusive lifestyle. But that is not to say that he was curious about the world about him. Often he visited Shinto shrines as well as Buddhist ones.
古人の跡をもと めず、古人の求たる所を.もとめよ
kojin no ato wo motomezu, kozjin no motometaru tokoro wo motomeyo
“Don’t follow in the footsteps of the old masters’ footsteps,
seek what they sought.” Basho said.
Funny thing, it appears Basho borrowed this from an older friend, Kōbō-Daishi (774-835), and (in 1693) imparted it to his disciple Kyoriku, in what has come down to us as “Words of Farewell to Kyoriku.” All this is out there, in books and online.
This makes it more Confucian like, for one needs to learn. Basho’s advice on how to learn might go like this:
Travel widely,
Bashō no yōna, 2024
While carrying as little as you can
Write down a word or two
And then go back.
Leaving us back at the beginning of the circle, Tao-like. Finding, that if you walk long enough, one day, to your surprise, you’ll find yourself among the very wise. And even if you don’t, you’ll have fun from the beginning to the end.
One can find many of these ideas expressed in Toshiharu Oseko’s book, Basho’s Haiku.
Note. It was Kyoriku who provided the cottage on Lake Biwa for Basho’s retreat after Oku no Hosomichi, the Journey into the Northern Interior. In that, there is another lesson.
“Step back to see what is close to you.”
He was not yet famous, he was not yet known as Matsuo Basho, but five years of living in Edo had brought him some recognition as a master of haiku.
in spring, its spring!
Matsuo Basho, 1680
each spring is great
and so on
於春々大哉春と云々
ah haru haru ōinaru kana haru to un nun
By 1679, Matsuo had taken the pen name Tosei (桃青), meaning “green peach.” His own poems were published in several anthologies; and twenty students who called him master published their own poems, Tōsei’s Collection of Twenty Poets (桃青門弟独吟二十歌仙). The year of 1680 was to be a year of great changes.
Haru, haru, how do you do?
Bashō no yōna, Spring 2023
The first dandelion is simple and bright
But what happens next?
Inochi, 命, life or fate, the meaning depends on the context and one’s age.
In the Spring of 1672, our poet, Tosei, (meaning unripe peach, he was not yet named Basho) moved to Edo to further study haiku.
命こそ芋種よまた今日の月
Matsuo Basho, Autumn 1672
inochi koso / imo dane yo mata / kyō no tsuki
Life is like
sweet potatoes
under a harvest moon
Existence, both from the point of view of Zen Buddhism and the Tao, is being aware of your place in Nature. By the summer of 1675, Matsuo has gained a following, publishing his own haiku under different names, including Tosei, or “Green Peach,” in deference to the Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty, Li Bai, “White Plum.”
命なりわづかの笠の下涼み
Matsuo Basho, Summer 1675
inochi nari / wazuka no kasa no / shita suzumi
to be alive
under the shade of my hat
enjoying the coolness
In the beauty of Spring, Tosei wrote this giddy haiku based on a Japanese proverb that eating a “first thing,” like a bonito or an eggplant, will extend your life 75 “days” (hi 日 day; hodo 年, year):
初花に命七十五年ほど
Matsuo Basho, Spring 1678
hatsu hana ni / inochi shichi jū / go nen hodo
first blossoms
extending life
seventy-five years
A decade has passed. Our green peach has ripened into Matsuo Basho. Looking back:
命二つの中に生きたる桜哉
Matsuo Basho, Spring 1685
inochi futatsu no / naka ni ikitaru / sakura kana
Fate
brings two lives together
the cherry blossoms!
Note. I suppose one could also chose to say, “two lives brought together by cherry blossoms.” The occasion was Basho’s chance meeting, with an old friend, Hattori Dohō (服部土芳), twenty years having passed.
Ah, the hanging bridge at Kiso
Matsuo Basho, Sarashina kikō, Autumn, 1688
where life is entwined
with ivy vines
桟や命をからむ
kakehashi ya / inochi o / tsuta kazura
matsuo-basho-haiku 