Wayfaring Poet Profile: Matsuo Bashō
Wayfaring Poet Profile: Matsuo Bashō
animist - contemplative - poet - wanderer
Appears in this episode
In this Wayfaring Poet Profile, we explore the life and a few of the verses of Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694). We discuss a range of topics in this episode including haiku poetry, haibun travel writing, the influence of Taoism, Shinto animism, and Zen on his path, the inspiration he drew from certain Wayfarers that preceded him, and some of his unique experiences that hint at the phenomenon of the dreambody — a concept first coined by Jungian-trained consciousness explorer Arnold Mindell.
With gratitude to all of the translators who have brought forth their own unique perspectives and understandings of Bashō.
BOOKS
The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, & Issa, edited by Robert Hass
Narrow Road to the Interior and Other Writings, translated by Sam Hamill
Basho: The Complete Haiku, translated, annotated and introduction by Jane Reichhold
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches, translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa
A Zen Wave: Basho’s Haiku and Zen, by Robert Aitken
The Essential Basho, translated by Sam Hamill
Basho’s Journey: The Literary Prose of Matsuo Basho, translated by David Landis Barnhill
The Master Haiku Poet: Matsuo Basho, translated with commentary by Makoto Ueda
The Art of Haiku: Its History Through Poems and Paintings, by Stephen Addiss
On Haiku, by Hiroaki Sato
The Essential Chuang Tzu, translated by Sam Hamill and J.P. Seaton
HAIKU: The Last Poetry of Richard Wright, introduction by Julia Wright
Descended From A Travel-Worn Satchel: Haiku and Haibun, by Chris La Tray
SOUNDSCAPES
Emergence / Bushido (Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos and Nori Akagi)
Mesmer / Roy Mattson
Music of the Smoky Rainbow / Roy Mattson
Watching Sunlight Fall Through Crowns of Trees / Lougi Verona
Tactile Ground / Robert Rich
Shingetsu / “Namu Amida Butsu” / Bronwyn Kirkpatrick