Chronologically

[Under construction]

The evolution of a poet. Matsuo Basho’s haiku in chronological order. The Japanese, like the Chinese, used era names to date events. Often, era names were chosen after a new emperor was chosen, or after disastrous events. Names were usually aspirational.

an East Wind is blowing,
and everywhere swaying,
her willowy hair

あち東風や面々さばき柳髪
achi kochi ya / men men sabaki / yanagi gami
— Matsuo Basho, Spring, the 7th year of Kabun (1667)

Spring, 1667
Kyoto, age 24

Spring in Kyoto, a young girl is walking, the branches on the willow trees are swaying, and so is her hair.

…

In Spring,
how great is Spring,
yada, yada …

於春々大哉春と云々
ah haru haru / ōinaru kana haru / to un nun
— Tosei, Matsuo Basho, Spring, the 8th year of the Enpo (1680)

Spring, 1680
Edo, age 37

Big changes are in the air.

The poet, then known as Tosei, an unripe peach, is about to blossom. Surrounded by a growing cadre of disciples, he is about to make a big move, to move out of Edo, south of the Sumida River to a simple hut. It is there that he will finally become Matsuo Basho. As a teacher, Basho had always stressed ‘being ones’ self. So, is it ironic, that this haiku is a parody of an older saying, “Confucius, Confucius, great, how great is Confucius!” The third line Un-nun is added to the end of a quoted sentence to substitute for ‘the Master (Confucius) said,’ and to omit the rest of a thought.

“yada, yada, …” A phrase popularized by the television show Seinfeld, meaning, and so on, …

…

hydrangeas —
at dawn,
pale yellow
紫陽草や帷子時の薄浅黄
ajisai ya / katabira-doki no / usu asagi
— Matsuo Basho, 1st year of Zhenxiang, Summer 1684

Spring, 1684
Edo, Fukagawa, age 40

June brings the rainy season and the beautiful flowering hydrangea. Hydrangeas can be a fickle flower, especially when it comes to watering or soil. The color may also be fickle, varying from a pale yellow to light blue, then maybe pink or violet, depending on the acidity of the soil. Perhaps, in this haiku, Basho found the pale yellow, a fitting comparison to the rising sun at dawn.

Best places in Edo (Tokyo) to see the flowering hydrangeas includes Hakusan Jinja (白山神社), the Shinto shrine founded in 948.

…

the oil is frozen
the lamp light is fading
from sleep, I am awakening?

油こほりともし火細き寝覚哉
abura kōri / tomoshi-bi hosoki / nezame kana 

— Matsuo Basho, Fukagawa, Winter, the third year of Jōkyō (1686).

Winter, 1686
Edo, Fukagawa, age 42

Happily ensconced in his simple cottage south of the Sumida River, Basho was enjoying success. But not the weather. A few years earlier, his cottage had burned down and his disciples gave him a new one. His mother died which had a profound impact on him. Two years earlier, Basho had taken to the road, although he worried that thieves and bandits lay in wait. It was a trip back in time, to Ueno, his birthplace, and to Kyoto, where he spent his student days.

Then, as Fall arrived, back to Edo to resume teaching his students. The winter of 1686 was a cold one, for the oil in the lamp was freezing or frozen. Is it not in such conditions, that one know one is truly alive?

…

Bright, bright red,
The sunshine is unfriendly
— the autumn wind


あかあかと日は難面くも秋の風
aka aka to / hi wa tsurenaku mo / aki no kaze
(Oku no Hosomichi)
Matsuo Basho, Kanazawa, Summer, Fall 1689

Summer, Fall 1689
Kanazawa: July 15th to 23rd
Oku no Hosomichi, age 45

By July, Matsuo Basho was in Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture. He was nearing the end of his epic journey that the world would one day know as “Oku no Hosomichi.” As he was heading west, following the coastline, the sun shone brightly in the afternoon. Indeed, it was bright red. “Aka aka to,” one mutters. One assumes it was red hot, and all that Basho wished for was a cool autumn breeze.

…

Purple hydrangeas,
in a garden with bushes,
another tatami room

紫陽草や薮を小庭の別座敷
ajisai ya / yabu o ko niwa no / betsu zashiki
— Matsuo Basho, May, 7th year of Genroku (1694)

May 1694
Edo, age 50

A disciple whose name is given as Shisen (子冊, identity unknown?) gave Basho a going away party as Basho was leaving Edo for the very last time. The gathering, one presumes, was large and that the party spilled out of the home and into Shisen’s garden which in May or June would be full of beautiful hydrangea blossoms. Or, it may have been that Basho wished to get our of the house and wander the garden with his friend.

A tatami room (Zashiki, 座敷) is a traditional style Japanese room for entertaining. Tatami mats made of woven rush grass are scattered on the floor, hence the name.

[There are multiple sources to work from. An invaluable source is Terebess Asia Online.]