Page:Japanese Literature (Keene).pdf/54

42 In the mention of the young shoots it tells us that the season is mid-spring, not specified by Bashō, and in the image of the spider’s web strengthens the impression of stillness suggested by the words “the ancient pond”. But, as we might expect, it was Bashō himself who composed the second verse, which is generally considered the model of its kind. His pupil Kakei had given the opening verse: To this Bashō added: In adding this link Bashō not only supplied a new image of his own, but greatly increased the effectiveness of the opening verse. The red winter’s sun, rising over the landscape, casts its harsh light on the miserable little flock of storks, uncertainly standing in the cold. If it had been said directly of the storks that they were a “touching sight”, it would have killed the suggestion of the image, but the unexpectedness of referring to the sunrise as “touching” gives freshness and force to the statement, and the unspoken comparison is left to the reader.

It may be wondered how often it was possible to assemble a group of linked-verse enthusiasts capable of producing a series of real merit. It cannot have been very often. Bashō, in his travel diary, The Narrow Road of Oku, gives us the circumstances of one series:

“As it was our plan to sail down the Mogami River, we waited at a place called Ōishida for the weather to clear. The