Matsuo Basho's Frog

With the splash of a frog, Japanese haiku master, Matsuo Basho, invigorated poetry. Until then, it was customary to write of the beauty of a frog, its appearance in a serene setting, essentially, a still life painted in words.

That's why Basho's poetic rendition of a frog shook the world of Japanese poetry. He wrote a piece tuned into the funny sound--the splash, plop, or kerplunk---made by a frog jumping into a real, and simultaneously metaphorical, pond.

This wasn't a graceful dive into water. It was an ordinary frog saying enough! I have been on this pedestal for too long. It is time to be a frog, and be real. In a way, that simple splash was as loud and abrupt as a fart. It was irreverent, and it broke the spell. It made people laugh, and relax.

For some English translations of Basho's famous frog poem, go to:

http://bopsecrets.org/gateway/passages/basho-frog.htm

Some English versions use the word "old" and others use "ancient" to describe Basho's pond in the poem's first line. Either way, the static nature of the pond is crucial. It represents tradition, and a real pond, at the same time. It represents inertia.

At first, the frog carries the romanticized weight of the traditional interpretation of frogs. Then, in a sudden move, the frog shakes off those highbrow limitations, and leaps into the discordant unknown, a bit like a child belly-flopping into the pool. Some 300 years later, Basho's frog poem still inspires.

I do not read or write Japanese, and cannot do my own translation from the original Basho masterpiece. But based on the many English translations, and what the poem has come to mean to me, here is my take on Basho's frog:

stagnant pond...
a frog cuts
a belly flop

©Rae Hallstrom

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku.

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