| |
Sabi in haikuDear friends,
once I read a quote from Basho, saying:
"If a man goes to a party, dressed up in gay clothes, or goes to the war, dressed up in stout armour, if this is an older man, there is something lonely about him."
From the first time I saw this simile, I liked it very much. Recently, with the help of a certain Mr. Ueshiba on the sci.lang.japan newsgroup, I got the original, Japanese version. It appears in Kyoraisho, a record of conversions of Basho with his disciples. One of them, Kyorai, is explaining the meaning of "sabi" (loneliness):
さびは句の色なり。
閑寂なる句をいふにあらず。
たとへば、老人の甲冑をたいし
戦場に働き、
錦繍をかざり御宴に侍りても、
老の姿有るがごとし。
sabi wa ku no iro nari.
kanjaku naru ku wo iu ni arazu.
tatoeba, roujin no katchuu wo taishi
senjou ni hataraki,
kinshuu wo kazari goen ni haberitemo,
oi no sugata aru ga gotoshi.
|
Sabi is the color of haiku.
It is different from tranquility.
For example, if an old man dresses up in armour and helmet
and goes to the battlefield,
or in colorful brocade kimono, attending (his lord)
at a banket, [sabi] is like this old figure.
|
Some noteskanjaku means tranquility. It is a pseudo adjective, so we need the naru suffix to form the rentaikei.
It is a qualifier of ku (haiku).
arazu in modern Japanese would be de wa nai or chigau.
katchuu : armour and helmet
tai suru : is from the noun tai : belt - meaning to put up (the armour, and fasten with the belt).
kinshuu : the first kanji is nishiki - brocade; the last kanji is used eg. in shishuu: embroidery.
gotoshi at the end of the sentence means "It is like..."
haberu : to wait upon, to attend.
te is a conjunctive particle, that often appears after the renyoukei of verbs and adjectives.
And finally here is a haiku from Basho, which - in my view - represents all what is said about sabi...
この道を
行く人なしに
秋の暮
|
Kono michi o
iku hito nashi ni
aki no kure
|
Back to main page
|