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TYPHOON OVER
A Half-Kasen Renku
The Information Page
and Annotated Version

(Click this link for just the poem in English and its authors.)

Goto an album of photographs related to this renku, including pictures of the participants.
Goto the Japanese text of the renku (which is not annotated).
Goto the guidelines for person-place.
Goto the Renku and stanza-by-stanza notes in this page (bypasses this general introduction).
Goto the Table of Contributors in this page (shows distribution of verses, other info).

Click a number in the table below to go to a numbered stanza. Hint: Click on the number before the verse you want, to see it in context with verses before and after.

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Welcome to the "Typhoon Over" information page!

Introduction by Penny Harter with William J. Higginson

This page contains some general background information on renku in general and information on the composition of "Typhoon Over: A Half-Kasen Renku" in particular, including the verses in romanized Japanese and English, and annotations on the verses, stanza by stanza.

Renku: Renku, or haikai no renga, is a traditional style of poetry in Japan, beginning in the 17th century but with roots that go much further back. Usually, a group of poets meets to write a single renku together, each composing verses in turn. Writing renku is like a game, and different players may take different parts, or "moves", depending on some generally understood rules or guidelines. Also, each group and each master may have their own ways of doing things. The master, or leader, acts both as a coach and a referee, as well as contributing verses along with the other poets.

Composition: "Typhoon Over" was composed mainly in Japanese, at the Bashô 360th Birth Anniversary Memorial International Renku Session held in Iga Ueno, Japan, on 10 October 2004. Bashô (family name Matsuo, 1644-1694) and his disciples perfected the art of haikai no renga, now known as renku, and the city of Ueno, in old Iga Province, was his hometown. For the past 50 years or more, the city has held a celebration in his honor every October.

A renku may be written in many different lengths, depending on the skills of the master and participants and the amount of time available. Today, typical renku have 100, 50, 36, 24, 20, 18, or 12 stanzas. Renku of 36 and 18 stanzas were popular in Bashô's day, and the time available for our renku session was about three and a half hours, so the organizers decided on 18 stanzas as the best length for this occasion. Our group was able to finish 18 stanzas; some of the six to eight other groups did not make it that far, and one group continued on to 20 stanzas.

As the guest poet from overseas in our group, I was asked to write the "starting verse" or hokku. Traditionally, the hokku must compliment the host, as well as include some word or phrase appropriate to the season. (More on the seasons in renku below.) It may also include a reference to the place where the group meets to write the poem. Finally, the hokku should also be true to local conditions at the time. My hokku goes this way:

Typhoon over—
we journey to Ueno
with the morning sun

The "morning sun" gives an idea of radiance, and also is a play on the name Nihon, as the Japanese call their country; Nihon means "origin of the sun"—that is, where the sun comes up in the morning. You may have heard Japan called "the land of the rising sun." And everyone knows how the sky shines cleanly the morning after a storm. All this combines to make my compliment to our hosts in Iga Ueno. And, of course, it is true, we were caught in a typhoon the previous day, and even spent some time on the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto, stopped inside a tunnel to protect us from the high winds.

Since I do not write in Japanese, my hokku was then translated into Japanese for the benefit of the rest of the group. I was very lucky because Teina Asaka came from Tokyo to be my interpreter, and also because the leader of our group, Tarô Miyashita, spoke English very well. To give the opening a traditional flavor, they chose the old word nowaki, which means "field-splitter" and refers to an autumn storm with strong winds, in place of the more general taifû, which would be a literal translation of my opening word. Nowaki is also a native Japanese word, as opposed to the Japanese word taifû and the English word "typhoon"—both of which come from Chinese.

Note that although I was writing in English, the Japanese version of the renku is the "original"; the English version on my web pages here is a translation, which has been worked on by Ms. Asaka, Master Miyashita, and my husband, William J. Higginson, a specialist in translating traditional Japanese poetry. If you read both Japanese and English, you may find some differences between the two versions. While literary translators try for accuracy, they are also concerned with literary quality, what works best in each language.

Speaking of translation, Ms. Asaka was pretty busy translating our colleagues' verses so I could understand what was going on during the renku session! She was so good she even had time to contribute herself.

Earlier, I noted that the different players make different moves, and the second verse illustrates this. The second verse, called by the special name wakiku, must be written by the host and reply to the compliment of the first verse, and also has to be in the same season. Master Miyashita, Tarô-sensei as we called him, took the part of the host, responding with this verse:

scattered around the castle
many kinds of nuts

Among the many outstanding features of the city of Ueno is its historic central castle, a fine example of this special kind of architecture. So Tarô-sensei's verse "links" or connects with my hokku through the relationship between the city and its well known castle. The nuts, of course, represent autumn fruits, and their being scattered shows the aftermath of the storm in my verse. At the same time, the variety of nuts suggests an offering of hospitality to the foreign guests. And finally, in the English translation, I'm sure that Tarô-sensei smiled at the word "nuts"—which can also refer to the many "renku nuts" (people crazy for renku) gathered at Iga Ueno for this celebration. This kind of humor often occurs in renku, to the enjoyment of all participants.

Thus, we were off to a good start. From here on the renku continues in alternating stanzas of 5-7-5 "sounds" and 7-7 "sounds" in Japanese, represented in English translation as three lines and two lines. (Because the "sounds" of the Japanese language do not closely resemble English syllables, in the translation we do not copy the pattern of counting, but try to find a pattern of 2-3-2 and 3-3 accented beats for the two kinds of stanzas. This is why the best English translations of Japanese haiku are not in 5-7-5 syllables, and why most English-language haiku poets do not write 5-7-5 haiku.)

Also, once we are past the beginning, the rest of the renku is fiction, invented. It may mention real people and places, and real events, but made-up, imaginary things may happen as well. In fact, I very much like writing renku because you have to use your imagination to do it.

Going on, there are two other striking features of renku: the seasons, and linking and shifting from verse to verse.

Seasons:  As you read the notes on the verses below, you will find that more than half of the verses include seasonal references, called kigo in Japanese. You may also notice that the seasons do not progress in the natural order, but begin in autumn and end in spring. The poem begins in autumn because it was written in October, an autumn month in Japan. The opening stanza must reflect the season of composition, and the next stanza or two must continue in the same season. Summer and winter will traditionally appear in the middle of a short renku like this, unless the authors begin writing it in one of those seasons, in which case that season will lead off. And most short renku will end in spring, unless they begin there. (Longer renku, of 36 or more stanzas, will almost always end in spring, possibly with one non-seasonal verse at the very end.)

Among the seasonal verses, two phenomena especially loved by the Japanese appear without fail: The moon and blossoms. In a half-kasen (a renku of 18 stanzas, like this one), the moon usually appears twice, once in autumn and once in another season. Just the word "moon" (tsuki in Japanese) by itself signifies a full moon of autumn, as it does here, where it becomes the focus of a moon-viewing party (verse 3). When the moon appears here again, it is the freezing winter moon (verse 12). The poets must take care not to let the two moon verses seem at all alike.

Like the moon, the very word "blossoms" (hana in Japanese) takes on a special meaning in renku and most traditional poetry in Japan. For readers of Japanese poetry, it means "cherry blossoms," and suggests a mass of the faintly pink flowers and the special light that pervades the air around blossoming cherry trees. If you've been to Newark or Washington during Cherry Blossom Festival, you have some idea of what comes to mind for the Japanese. And, of course, cherry blossoms come in the spring, though the month may differ according to the region. So, wherever you find a blossom verse in a renku, you will also find a few spring verses. The usual overall guideline is: Spring and autumn appear in three or more sequential verses, summer and winter appear in three or fewer adjacent verses, usually only one or two.

Linking and Shifting: In traditional renku, the poets work very hard at shifting away from topics already expressed in existing verses, especially in verses close by. There are a number of ways to do this, one involving guidelines about how many verses in a row may be in the same season, one involving the notions of person and place, and another about how closely the same or a related topic may appear to a verse that already includes that topic.

With respect to person and place, "Typhoon Over" follows the usual practice, summarized here:

"Person-Place" includes the following: self (first-person experience), other (experience of another person), self & other (experience of self with another), public (experience of a group of people—can be very vague, so long as people are there), place (event or scene without present human involvement—this can include human artifacts). Renku poets use "person-place" information to avoid a particular kind of "throw-back"; according to person-place guidelines, one wants to avoid having the first and third of any three consecutive verses in the same category. For example, avoid sequences like self-place-self, other-self-other, and so on. As with the rules about seasons, these are actually guidelines, and can be set aside occasionally if something else that's good is going on in the poem. (If you look carefully at the notes after the verses below, you may notice a string of three place verses in a row. If you read Master Tarô's comments about the poem, right after it on this page, you may guess why he didn't correct some of those verses.)

Other Special Verses: "Typhoon Over" includes all of the topics which traditionally receive special attention in renku, such as the seasons, the moon and blossoms, and love. In traditional renku "love" is also a special topic with reserved locations in the interior of the renku. Love verses usually occur in pairs, or sometimes three in a row. In "Typhoon Over," one pair of love verses occurs near the middle.

Overall Rhythm: A completed renku, while covering a wide range of people, places, times, and events, and not telling any one story, does have an overall unity. This unity is more like the unity of a piece of classical music, that may have an introductory section, where some of the themes appear, followed by a section in which these and other themes develop, and ending with a quick movement that drives to the finish. In fact, renku poets speak of the "preface" (jo in Japanese), "development" (ha), and "fast close" or "presto" (kyû). In our half-kasen, I think you may see these three sections in the first six stanzas (preface), the next nine stanzas (development), and the last three (fast close).



Typhoon Over
A Half-Kasen Renku
The Annotated Version
(Click this link for just the poem and its authors.)

The four columns in the table that follows contain the verse numbers, the verses of the poem (the single line in italics represents the sounds of the Japanese text, which may also be viewed in Japanese; the three- or two-line verse below represents the corresponding English text), the authors, and information on the seasons, person-place, and topics, verse-by-verse.

The information in the column to the far right of each verse is organized thus:

Named season (season word); person-place; a list of topics other than season included in the verse.


Basho's 150th Birth Anniversary International Renku Meeting
Typohoon Over: A Half-Kasen Renku
Written at World Haikai Fusion 2004, Iga Ueno, Japan, 10 October 2004
Za: Flowering Pampas Grass — Sabaki: Tarô Miyashita

Verse #
Verse
Author
Comments

1 nowaki sugi ueno kagayô hi no de kana

Typhoon over—
we journey to Ueno
with the morning sun
 
 
Penny Harter
Autumn (typhoon); self and other; storm, place-name, heavenly body.
2      jo ni ochirabaru konomi iroiro


     scattered around the castle
     many kinds of nuts
 
Tarô Miyashita
Autumn (nuts); place; building.
3 tsukimi taro sôsu no aji nishimeite


for moon-viewing
taros boiled
in butter sauce


Masa Yamada
Autumn (moon-viewing); place or self; food.
4      neko to isshô ni nozoku kodomora


     together with the cat
     the kids peek in

Mikiko Koga
Seasonless; other; children, furry animal.
5 natsu mekishi oka ni hibikeru fue no oto


summer begins
the sound of a flute
echoes on the hill
 
 
Teina Asaka
Summer (summer begins); place; music; landscape.
6      minamo ni utsuru amenbo no kage


     on the water's surface
     the shadow of a waterstrider
 
Mikiko
Summer (waterstrider); place; landscape, insect.
————— Here "side two" begins. —————
7 mazamaza to mune o shôsha no rentogen


after the illness
her lingering cough—
x-ray appointment


Penny
Seasonless; other; illness, doctor.
8      anata no koto o minna shiritai


     I want to know
     everything about you

Masa
Seasonless; self and other; love.
9 akogare no oku no hosomichi futari tsure


longing for
the Narrow Road of Oku
two together


Tarô
Seasonless; self and other; love, literature (Narrow Roads of Oku, by Bashô).
10      ukiyo no hate wa yosutebito nari


     the homeless man
     still lost in memory
 
Penny
Seasonless; other; homelessness, memory.
11 birugai ni ippai nomiya hirakuran


downtown
they'll maybe open up
a shot bar


Mikiko
Seasonless; other; business, drink.
12      karakuri tokei tomeru itezuki


     that contraption of a clock
     stopped by the freezing moon
 
Teina
Winter (freezing moon); place; time, machinery.
13 toshi no kure genyu no kakaku tsuriagaru


at year's end
the price of crude oil
jumps up


Masa
Winter (year's end); place; time, economics, fuel.
14      shida no mori o hashiru kyôryû

     among the ferns
     a dinosaur runs
 
Teina
New Year (ferns); place; plant, animal. (Note: Ferns figure in New Year's decorations.)
15 umiberi no haha no madoromi yume tsumugi


sinking down
through sleep, I find
my mother's face


Penny
Seasonless; self and other; sleep, body part.
16      higashi no kaze ni hiraku tenmado


     for the east wind
     I open the skylight
 
Masa
Spring (east wind); self; sky, building.
17 hanazakari kannon bosatsu emitatae


blossoms' peak
the Goddess of Mercy
smiles in praise


Tarô
Spring (blossom's peak); place; goddess, smile.
18      shabondama tobu chôchô mo mata


     soap bubbles fly
     and butterflies too

Mikiko
Spring (soap bubbles, butterflies); place.

Note: Penny's English is original (and was translated into Japanese by Teina Asaka and Tarô Miyashita). Remaining English (in the second column) was originally composed in Japanese and is here translated by Teina Asaka, Tarô Miyashita, and W. J. Higginson. (Also, since the translations sometimes vary in "accuracy" for literary effect, the person-place designations of the verses in the English and Japanese versions may disagree occasionally.)


Contributors

Author Number of VersesSpecial Verses*
Penny Harter, US
4
hokku
Tarô Miyashita, Japan
3
wakiku, love, blossom
Masa Yamada, Japan
4
daisan, moon, love
Mikiko Koga, Japan
4
ageku
Teina Asaka, Japan
3

Total Stanzas 18
7*

*Includes hokku (starting), wakiku (second), daisan (third), moon and blossom verses, love verses, ageku (last). Note that the daisan was also a moon verse, so in this renku the total of special verses is 7, not eight.



Master Tarô Miyashita's Comments

Because of the typhoon, my bullet train was well behind schedule, and I slept overnight in the train. I arrived at Iga Ueno early in the morning, in fog. Thinking about how safflower and cotton would grow well here, I visited the house where Bashô was born and then the memorial hall [built in his honor]. Around the castle, various kinds of nuts had fallen from the trees and were scattered; I picked some up and put them in my pocket, and went to the meeting place for the international renku.

The hokku was submitted by Penny-san, who had come a long way. The scene [in her verse] was exactly what we saw in Ueno that morning, so I could write the wakiku immediately. I was not used to international renku, but Teina-san was a big help interpreting, and we produced a completed renku. I especially like the three-verse series from "crude oil" to "dinosaur" to "through sleep."

After the Bashô Festival ceremony, I was treated to a feast of the Master's [Bashô's] "menu for a moon-viewing," which was very impressive. Then I left Iga for Zeze to visit Gichûji Temple there [Bashô's main burial place], and that evening met with renku friends in Otsu for a renku session by the lake [Lake Biwa, Japan's "Great Lake," near Gichûji], having all in all a very enjoyable haikai journey. Thanks to everyone!

Tarô
(Translated by Teina Asaka and W. J. Higginson)




Click a number in the table below to go to a numbered stanza. Hint: Click on the number before the verse you want, to see it in context with verses before and after.

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Copyright Notice: This work is copyright © 2004 by Penny Harter for the authors. All rights reserved by the authors individually and collectively, except as stated herein. This entire page may be copied for personal use, or for use in a renku workshop. To quote portions only, or for any other use, permission is required: contact Penny Harter, P. O. Box 1402, Summit, NJ 07902 USA. This Web page is http://haikai.2hweb.net/renku/hankasen/Typhoon_Info.html. First posted 2 November 2004, last updated 19 November 2007. Contact the webmaster.


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