Symphony: A Solo Shisan

The last weeks of spring,
The faded rhododendron
And tall, uncut grass

In the vacant lot beside
The new condominiums

He inspects the plans,
Completed just yesterday,
For a new strip-mall

***
Twenty thousand years from now
The river will change its course

A few Hawthorne trees
Blooming in the afternoon
Of the July heat

"I can't explain it," she says.
"I just like being with him."

***
In the large lobby
Of the new office building
Coming and going

Once a year five friends gather
To hike the low-lying hills

Under the jade light
Of the full, or nearly full,
Slowly drifting moon

***
He washes all the dishes
While gazing out the window

To the neighbor's house
At the thinly falling snow
As some music plays

From the just purchased cd
A sun-dappled symphony

Another Dawn: A Solo Shisan

Another Dawn

The last weeks of spring
The hawthorns are still in bloom
An overcast day

Preparing for their finals
And college applications

At the welfare line
An unemployed engineer
Wonders what is next

***
One day the moon will be gone
But this summer night it's full

In a dream refuge
She finds relief from the heat
And from her lover

If everything is changing
Then there is nothing to fear

***
He alters data
After the Great Leader's speech;
The message was clear

The implacable seasons,
A flow of indifference

As days grow shorter
She removes a few sweaters
From the bottom drawer

***
"We're a little short this month.
Maybe we'll get it next year."

The dishes are chipped,
But that's O.K., they will serve;
They have their own beauty

Another dawn, one more day,
Another winter deepens

Syllabics: 3

Counting is a primal human act. Meditators count breaths, customers count change, musicians count beats and measures, when a rocket is launched we count down, in a gym class we count up for team assignment, we count the days of a month and the years of our lives, astronomers count the stars in the sky.

Somewhere in the mists of time people found that they could count repeating units of sound that, when grouped together, make words. And thus formal poetry was born.

These sound units are what we today call syllables. Just as people articulate the flow of time by counting days, poets articulate the flow of language by counting syllables.

Along with this discovery came the understanding that some words have the same number of syllables and so they share a number in common; even if the two words have different meanings, they share the same number of syllables. This also applies to groups of words; two groups of words may have the same number of syllables and so have an underlying unity, a unity of number which can transcend a difference in meaning.

Counting syllables grounds the poet in an activity that all human beings share. Because it is an activity that all people share, counting is a kind of humbling activity, keeping the poet connected to the ordinary. When the poet counts syllables, that counting is the same counting that ordinary people do when they count whatever they are counting (change, plates, votes, etc.).

By counting syllables poets replicate a pervasive human mode of comprehending existence. I think this is a central reason why formal poetry, based on counting syllables, is so attractive to people. The regularity of counted lines instantiates, and then displays, a mechanism that is central to our humanity, something that all of us do every day numerous times. Lines that are based on counting, are, therefore, immediately accessible, resonating with this pervasive, and very human, way of interacting with existence.

The Shisan: An Appreciation

Renga has a long history, going back to the 13th century. For a long part of its history the dominant form consisted of 100 verses; known as the Hyakuin. The great practitioner of Renga, Sogi, 1421-1502, wrote in this form.

Renga has had periods of popularity followed by periods of neglect. It is usually revived by some significant poet who is attracted to the form and shows people, once again, its potential. Basho, 1644-1694, revived Renga for his time and used a 36 verse form known as the Kasen.

The tendency in the history of Renga has been towards shorter and shorter forms, and this has continued into the modern era. Today there are a number of 12 Verse forms that are used widely by Renga poets, both in Japan and outside of Japan. The two I am most familiar with are the Junicho and the Shisan. Of the two I want to talk about the Shisan here.

The Shisan was first proposed by Kaoru Kubota who, I am told, was a noted Renga poet. I have not been able to find out anything about him beyond this stated fact; anyone with further information please feel free to post details. (When I google his name, I discover that it is fairly common in Japan; there is a noted Doctor and Engineer both of whom have the same name, but almost nothing about our poet.) It is not even clear to me exactly when Kubota proposed the Shisan; but I suspect it was sometime in the 70’s or 80’s. In any case, let me take this opportunity to express my thanks to Mr. Kubota for taking the time to propose this form. It has become my personal favorite.

Here are a few reasons for why I find the Shisan such an attractive Renga form:

1. It is compact. After acquiring a feel for the form, and some skill in it, I find it doesn’t take too long to write a Shisan. A couple of hours is usually enough time. In contrast, the Kasen, and certainly the Hyakuin, take an extended time commitment.

2. Kubota managed to keep the essentials of the Renga, its distinguishing features, even though the form is only 1/3 as long as the Kasen, and just a little over 1/10th the size of a Hyakuin. That is impressive. When I first heard about it I wasn’t sure how it could be done, but Kubota showed that it is possible. By retaining the “blossoming tree”, “love”, and “moon” verses, and also the seasonal flow, Kubota created a beautiful miniature Renga that nevertheless incorporates all the perspectives of the larger, more traditional, forms.

3. Kubota did change one characteristic of Renga. He altered the traditional seasonal scheme. In the traditional Renga forms, such as the 36 Verse Kasen, and the 100 Verse Hyakuin, the order of the seasons is not the natural order. The order of the seasons is dictated according to affective, felt, or feeling based associations. Thus traditional Renga seasonal schemes are poetically meaningful, but do not follow the natural seasonal order. Kubota was the first, as far as I know, to introduce a Renga scheme that follows the natural order. I find this attractive and efficacious. First, because so much of Renga is nature based to begin with. The opening verse, for example, should be a scene from nature and often significant, foreground, verses are also about nature. It has often struck me as odd that such a strongly nature based tradition wouldn’t follow the natural seasonal flow; although I admit the traditional scheme works. But Kubota’s change feels more unified to me; just as individual verses, like the seasonal verses, and the opening verse, are embedded in nature, so the entire Renga, in a Shisan, becomes embedded in nature as it actually appears. Second, I think it makes the Shisan easier to learn; one simply follows the natural flow of the seasons instead of having to learn a series of seasonal templates. Here I think Kubota has helped to integrate Renga more closely to the natural world.

4. As I previously posted, I have become fond of writing solo Renga and the Shisan is the solo form I write most frequently. In terms of the level of complexity, I suspect that the Shisan is roughly equivalent to a Sonnet, particularly if one pays attention to the Sonnet rhyme scheme, stanza divisions, and closely follows standard iambic requirements. That’s a lot to juggle. Similarly, the Shisan requires that the poet pay attention to syllabics, topics, seasonal flow, link and shift. The Shisan, by being short and focused, allows for solo expression in the same way that the Sonnet, in its brevity, allows for solo expression. They are both about the same length; the Shisan is 46 syllables longer than the Sonnet or about four Sonnet lines longer. In terms of length the Shisan is like adding another quatrain. This is a good length for a medium sized poem; long enough for individual expression, yet tight enough so that the poet can’t meander.

5. It is an excellent form for introducing Renga to newcomers. Because of its brevity the newcomer won’t feel overwhelmed by the complexity or the amount of time needed to write it. Because of its natural seasonal flow it will seem more intuitively accessible than other Renga forms. Because it is a good vehicle for solo poetry, the newcomer can start the practice of Renga without having to wait for a group of like- minded people.

So three deep bows to Kaoru Kubota. May the Shisan flourish far and wide.

Crochet: A Solo Shisan

Evening clarity
After the heat of the day
The cool summer moon

Suspended at the zenith,
Above the small city park

She watches a cloud
As its face shifts and changes
Just like her feelings

***
This year the leaves are falling
Gradually, one by one

"Now we have to part,"
He speaks slowly, with regret.
"It didn't work out."

The dry creek waits for the rain
A goddess waits for a prayer

***
Saturn shifting signs,
Equinoxes, Solstices,
Workdays and weekends

At the university
The Board makes a long-term plan

As the winter wind
Whistles against the windows
And bends the branches

***
My Aunt crochets complex squares,
She has plans for a new shawl

Inspired by
the colors of plum blossoms
And the morning air

The couple with no children
Decides to adopt a child

Living the Japanese Arts & Ways: A Review

Living the Japanese Arts & Ways:
45 Paths to Meditation & Beauty
by H. E. Davey

A Review

Those of us who take an interest in Japanese arts are often attracted by the philosophical view surrounding these arts. By arts I mean traditions such as Tea Ceremony, Kado or Flower Arranging (also known as Ikebana), Kyudo (or ceremonial archery), and, of course, such poetic forms as Renga. It is not easy for non-Japanese to grasp the esthetic categories through which Japanese arts and ways are formulated. There are some differences between western and Japanese approaches and these manifest in both big and small ways. For example, in the west flower arranging is considered a merely decorative pastime, while in Japan flower arranging evolved into a high art. Why is this so?

The best presentation of the basic ideas underlying Japanese approaches to the arts I have found is H. E. Davey’s “Living the Japanese Arts & Ways.” Davey is the Director of the Sennin Foundation for Japanese Cultural Arts in the East Bay. He is an accomplished practitioner of several of these arts, including Japanese Yoga and Calligraphy. He has been certified by traditional Japanese schools.

The book is divided into 45 sections, grouped into four chapters: 1. The Essence of the Japanese Arts & Ways, 2. Spiritual Aesthetics in the Japanese Arts & Ways, 3. Mind & Body Unification in the Japanese Arts and Ways, and 4. Traditions & Personal Relationships in the Japanese Arts & Ways. Each of the 45 Sections is headed by a Japanese term, such as “Yugen”, “Mono no Aware”, "Wabi", and "Furyu". These terms are then explained and illustrated. As the book unfolds, and as new terms are introduced, the new terms are related to the previously introduced terms so that a fabric of relationships among the terms is gradually woven.

In addition the book begins with a broad overview of East Asian philosophy that is at once insightful and accessible to the ordinary reader. I was particularly impressed by the author’s emphasis on Confucian influences on the arts and ways; a point which, I think, many western writers on this topic have missed. There is also a section on the influence of Shinto, which is equally insightful. Davey really has a broad grasp of Japanese cultural foundations.

Davey sees the arts and ways of Japan as sharing an underlying view which he states as seeing the universal in the particular. That is one reason why Flower Arranging could become a high art in Japan, because the idea is that, when framed correctly, one can apprehend that which is universal in the particularity of the impermanent flower arrangement, and thus a flower arrangement can function as a gate to this universality.

Davey does not talk directly about Renga in his book, but his book touches on many of the esthetic ideals that are foundational for Renga and which all Renga poets shared. The idea of a flow of images is rooted in this understanding that the universal resides in the particular and for this reason Renga, like Flower Arranging, became a Way, or Path, in Japan during its heyday. I think Renga can still function in that way.

I have read this book several times and found each reading to be helpful. I highly recommend Davey’s book for all those interested in the Japanese approach to the arts and particularly for those interested in Renga.

Note: “Living the Japanese Arts and Ways” was originally published as a separate book, but I believe it has gone out of print. It has, however, been reprinted in its entirety in “The Japanese Way of the Artist”, by the same author which contains, in addition to the “Arts and Ways”, his book on calligraphy, “Brush Meditation”, and his book on flower arranging, “The Japanese Way of the Flowers”.

Magma: A Solo Shisan

It’s hot this morning,
Already my neighbors are
Watering their lawns

A few leaves flutter briefly
And then the stillness returns

She meant to write home,
But the day got too busy;
She’ll do it later

***
Thick clouds cover the full moon
The sound of dry leaves falling

On the sidewalk
In front of the office building
Built five years ago

Young lovers meet and embrace;
Close friends had introduced them

***
The days have shortened
Years have vanished like incense
Dispersed by cold winds

All nations are insecure
And all politicians lie

Deep within the earth
Slow waves of molten magma
Head towards the surface

***
Plum blossoms bloom in the snow
Soon warmer days will arrive

“It’s been difficult,
But I have found a new job,”
He says to his Dad

Donations for the food bank
Have been excellent this year