Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/384

380 :· · [Bashō likens himself to a wild duck stricken while in flight; a fisherman’s hearth has not only crickets but shrimps.]

Bashō

Bashō

When we were compiling “The Monkey’s Cloak” we were asked to choose one of these two poems for inclusion. Bonchō said, “The verse about the sick wild duck is good, but the other about the crickets mixing with the little shrimps has a freshness which makes it truly outstanding.” Kyorai answered, “The verse about the shrimps is unusual, but had I noticed the scene in the fisherman’s hut I could have written it myself. The one about the wild duck, on the other hand, is so noble in tone, so subtly perceptive, that I wonder how anyone could have conceived it.” After some discussion we finally asked permission to include both verses. The Master later said, laughing, “You seem to have argued yourselves into thinking that a sick duck and a little shrimp have about equal value.”

[In the attempt to make the haiku ''as suggestive as possible, deliberately ambiguous language was often used. Here, however, Bashō discovers a meaning in Kyorai’s poem which the author did not think of.'']

Kyorai