makoto
Makoto (ku sincerity)
by haiku crossroads on Friday, May 27, 2011 at 10:30am
by Yosa Buson / pic
ONITSURA’S MAKOTO AND THE DAOIST CONCEPT OF THE NATURAL Peipei Qiu Asian Studies Program, Vassar College In haikai history, Uejima Onitsura (1661–1738) is famous for the following statement concerning the nature of comic linked verse: ‘‘Without makoto , there would be no haikai.’’ 1 The two Japanese terms used in this statement, haikai and makoto, present an obvious semantic conflict. Makoto in Japanese basically means ‘‘truth,’’ ‘‘faithfulness,’’ and ‘‘genuineness.’’ 2 Haikai, on the other hand, literally means ‘‘facetiousness’’ or ‘‘humor.’’ The term is used to refer to facetious poems in Japan since the first imperial poetic anthology, the Kokin wakashu ¯ (905). When haikai no renga (comic linked verse) became a popular genre during the later medieval and early Edo periods, it was conceived basically as a playful and facetious poem. By saying that ‘‘without makoto there would be no haikai,’’ Onitsura declared a revolutionary change in the nature of the comic linked verse, a reform carried out by the joint effort of a number of haikai poets during the last two decades of the seventeenth century. Before this change took place, haikai had been characterized as a poem of ‘‘free exaggerations’’ and ‘‘the most deluding falsehoods.’’ 3 The shift of the critical emphasis from falsehood to truthfulness transformed the genre from an entertaining pastime to a serious literary form.http://www.jstor.org/pss/1400002
the leaping trout sees
far below, a few white clouds
as they flow
— Onitsura
When Basho talks about fuga no makoto, this is normally interpreted as poetic sincerity. However, makoto also means truths, or true words, or true things. In ancient times makoto referred to man's spiritual state where shin (truth), zen (goodness) and bi (beauty) were integrated. In terms of poets, makoto is that which springs from their magokoro (true heart, or soul). Haiku is certainly capable of (local, particular) truths. Sometimes it is capable of universal truths and that is when great haiku poems are born. http://www.terebess.hu/english/haiku/takiguchi.html
on a journey,
resting beneath the cherry blossoms,
I feel myself to be in a Noh play
— Basho
Also see . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh
http://www.simplyhaiku.com/SHv3n2/features/anita_virgil_interim.html
http://thegreenleaf.co.uk/hp/onitsura/00onitsura.htm
jp
Bashō spoke of "fuga no makoto" (poetic sincerity, honesty, and truth) in regard to haiku.
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http://is.gd/fuga_makoto