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Santoka, Taneda
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Taneda Santōka | |
|---|---|
 Photo of Taneda Santōka | |
| Born | December 3, 1882 |
| Died | October 11, 1940 (aged 57) |
| Other name | 種田 山頭火 |
| Occupation | Haiku poet |
| Japanese name | |
| Kanji | 種田 山頭火 |
| Hiragana | たねだ さんとうか |
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"In the never-ending sound of water, you will always find the Buddha." (07/02/2022)
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Santōka Taneda (種田 山頭火, Taneda Santōka; December 3, 1882 – October 11, 1940) was the pen-name of Shōichi Taneda (種田 正一, Taneda Shōichi), a Japanese author and haiku poet. He is known for his free verse haiku—a style which does not conform to the formal rules of traditional haiku.
Early life
Santōka was born in a village located in Yamaguchi prefecture, to a wealthy land-owning family. When he was eleven[1] his mother committed suicide by throwing herself into the family well. Though the exact reason for her action is unknown, according to Santōka's diaries his mother had finally reached the point where she could no longer live with her husband's philandering. Following the incident, Santōka was raised by his grandmother.
In 1902, he entered Waseda University in Tokyo as a student of literature. While there, he began drinking heavily, and in 1904, at the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, he dropped out of school. The documented reason was "nervous breakdown", which some believe to be a euphemism for frequent and severe drunkenness.[2] By that time his father Takejirō was in such dire financial straits that he could barely afford to pay his son's tuition.
In 1906, Taneda father and son sold off family land in order to open a sake brewery. In 1909 his father arranged for Santōka to marry Sato Sakino, a girl from a neighboring village. In his diaries, Santōka confesses that the sight of his mother's corpse being raised from her watery grave had forever tarnished his relationship with women.[3] In 1910 Sakino gave birth to a son, Ken.
Life as a Poet
In 1911, Santōka began publishing translations of Ivan Turgenev and Guy de Maupassant in the literary journal Seinen (青年, Youth) under the pen name Santōka (山頭火). The name is originally one of the list of natchin (納音), i.e., labels given to a person's year of birth according to the Chinese sexegenary cycle, which are used for divination. However, the natchin Santōka is unrelated to the actual year in which the poet was born.[4]
The word Santōka can be understood in at least two different ways. The literal meaning is "Mountain-top Fire".[5] However, it can also mean "Cremation-ground Fire", since "mountain-top" is a metaphor for cremation grounds in Japanese.[6] It has been speculated that this choice of name could be related to the traumatic experience of the suicide of Santōka's mother.[7]
That same year, 1911, Santōka joined his area's local haiku group. At that time, his haiku mostly adhered to the traditional syllabic format, though some were hypersyllabic, for example:
- In a café we debate decadence a summer butterfly flits[5]
- Kafe ni dekadan o ronzu natsu no chō toberi
In 1913, Santōka was accepted as a disciple by the leading haiku reformist Ogiwara Seisensui.[8] Seisensui (1884–1976) could be regarded as the originator of the free-form haiku movement, though fellow writers Masaoka Shiki and Kawahigashi Hekigoto also deserve recognition.[9] Writers following the early-twentieth century movement known as free-form or free-style haiku (shinkeikō 新傾向, lit. 'new trend') composed haiku lacking both the traditional 5-7-5 syllabic rule and the requisite seasonal word (kigo).
Santōka began regularly contributing poetry to Seisensui's haiku magazine Sōun (層雲, Layered Clouds). By 1916 he became an editor.
That same year, however, was marked by the bankruptcy of his father's sake brewery after two years of spoiled stock. The family lost all that remained of their once great fortune. His father fled into hiding and Santōka moved his family to Kumamoto City on the southern island of Kyūshū, where plans to open a second-hand bookstore soon materialized into the opening of a picture frame shop. Two years later, plagued by debt, Santōka's younger brother Jirō committed suicide.[10] Then Santōka's grandmother died. In 1919, at the age of thirty-seven, Santōka left his family in order to find a job in Tokyo. In 1920, following her parents' wishes, Santōka divorced his wife.[11] His father died soon after.
As an exponent of free style haiku, Santōka is often ranked alongside Ozaki Hōsai (1885–1926), a fellow student of Seisensui. They both suffered from the ill effects of their drinking habits and were similar in their reliance on Seisensui and other patrons of the arts for aid and support. The literary tone of their poems, however, differs.
Santōka proved no more reliable at working a steady job than he had at going to college, and though he did secure a permanent position as a librarian in 1920, by 1922 he was again unemployed due to another "nervous breakdown". He stayed in Tokyo long enough to experience the Great Kantō earthquake, after which he was apparently jailed as a suspect Communist.[12] Soon after being released, he returned to Kumamoto City where he helped Sakino keep shop.
In 1924, an extremely drunk Santōka jumped in front of an oncoming train in what may have been a suicide attempt.[11] The train managed to stop just inches from him, and he was brought by a newspaper reporter to the Sōtō Zen temple Hōon-ji, where the head priest Mochizuki Gian welcomed him to the Zen fraternity. The Zen life seemed to work for Santōka: by the next year at the age of forty-two he was ordained in the Sōtō sect.
In 1926, after a year spent as caretaker of Mitori Kannon-dō temple in Kumamoto, Santōka set out on the first of many walking trips. He was away for three years. Part of this time was spent completing the eighty-eight temple pilgrimage circuit on Shikoku Island.[13] He visited the gravesite of his deceased friend Ozaki Hōsai.
In 1929 he returned briefly to Kumamoto to visit Sakino and publish some more haiku in Sōun. He also began a publication of his own, Sambaku (三八九), named after his boardinghouse. Soon, however, he was back on the road.
During his trips, Santōka wore his priest's robe and a large bamboo hat known as a kasa to keep off the sun. He had one bowl, which he used both for alms-getting and for eating. To survive, he went from house to house to beg. Begging (takuhatsu) is an important part of practice for monks in Japan, but, considering that Santōka was not a member of a monastery while he journeyed, begging just for his own needs, he was often regarded with disdain and on a few occasions even questioned by the police.[14] A day's earnings would go toward a room at a guesthouse, food, and sake. It is clear from his diaries that he had very mixed feelings about his lifestyle:
In 1932, Santōka settled down for a time at a cottage in Yamaguchi prefecture. He named it "Gochūan"[18] (其中庵) after a verse in the Lotus Sutra.[19] While there, he published his first book of poems, Hachi no ko (鉢の子, "Rice Bowl Child"). He lived on the contributions of friends and admirers, whatever he could grow in his garden, and money sent from his son Ken. In 1934 he set off again on a walking trip, but soon grew seriously ill and had to return home. He attempted suicide but lived.[20] In 1936, he again began to walk, intent on following the trail of the famous haiku poet Bashō (1644–1694) as described in Oku no Hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Interior).[21] He returned to Gōchuan after eight months.
In 1938, Gochūan became unfit for habitation, and after another walking trip, Santōka settled down at a small temple near Matsuyama City. On October 11, 1940, Santōka died in his sleep. He had published seven collections of poems and numerous editions of Sambaku. He was fifty-seven.
Poetry
The following poem is a typical example of Santōka's work:
What, even my straw hat has started leaking
笠も漏り出したか
kasa mo moridashita ka
This poem exhibits two major features of free verse haiku:
- It is a single utterance that cannot be subdivided into a 5-7-5 syllable structure, and
- It does not contain a season word.
The poem does, however, hint at a natural phenomenon—rain—by referring to the straw hat and to the fact that it is leaking.
---Another interpretation /
I'm traveling by myself wearing a straw hat.
It began to rain, and my face began to get wet.
There is no place to take shelter from the rain in an unpopular place.
But I keep walking.
---
Below are further examples of free haiku poems by Santōka:
- Excerpts from Hiroaki Sato's translation of Santōka's Grass and Tree Cairn:
- I go in I go in still blue mountains
- Wakeitte mo wakeitte mo aoi yama
- Fluttering drunk leaves scatter
- Horohoro yōte ki no ha chiru
- Excerpts from Burton Watson's translation For All My Walking:
- there
- where the fire was
- something blooming
- yake-ato nani yara saite iru
- feel of the needle
- when at last
- you get the thread through it
- yatto ito ga tōtta hari no kanshoku
Further reading
- Taneda Santōka. Santoka: Grass and Tree Cairn, translated by Hiroaki Sato, Red Moon Press, 2002 ISBN 1-893959-28-7
- Taneda Santōka, The Santoka: versions by Scott Watson, translated by Scott Watson, Bookgirl Press, 2005. ISBN 4-915948-41-2 C0098. 41pp. Over 100 haiku and two essays
- Taneda Santoka. Walking By My Self Again, translated by Scott Watson, Bookgirl Press, 2011 ISBN 978-1-933175-03-4 [68 pp. close to 200 haiku and translator's note]
- Oyama, Sumita. The Life and Zen Haiku Poetry of Santoka Taneda, translated by William Scott Wilson, Tuttle Publishing, 2021 ISBN 978-4-805316-55-9 [352 pp. 300 haiku and translator's introduction]
Notes
- Stevens (1980), p. 10
- Santōka (2003), p. 3
- Abrams (1977), p. 271
- 納音, Wikipedia (in Japanese), 2015-08-25, retrieved 2019-04-18
- Sato (2002), p. ix
- 日本国語大辞典, デジタル大辞泉,大辞林 第三版,精選版. 山頭(サントウ)とは. コトバンク (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-04-18.
- "namae". home.e-catv.ne.jp. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
- Susumu Takiguchi, The Great Rebel Poet: Taneda Santoka (paper delivered at the Oriental Club, London, 2 May 2000), included in The Twaddle of an Oxonian, (Bicester: Ami-Net International Press, 2000), 115.
- Keene (1984), pp. 92–124
- Santōka (2003), p. 4
- Santōka (2003), p. 5
- Sato (2002), p. iv
- Stevens (1980), p. 16
- Santōka (2003), p. 7
- Santōka (2003), p. 67
- Santōka (2003), p. 82
- Santōka (2003), p. 98
- "山口市観光情報サイト 「西の京 やまぐち」 観光スポット情報｜其中庵｜". yamaguchi-city.jp. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
- Stevens (1980), p. 14
- Abrams (1977), p. 272
- Stevens (1980), p. 15
References
- Abrams, James (1977). "Hail in the Begging Bowl: the Odyssey and Poetry of Santoka". Monumenta Nipponica. 32 (3): 269–302. doi:10.2307/2384370. JSTOR 2384370.
- Keene, Donald (1984). Dawn to the West. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
- Santōka, Taneda (2003). For All My Walking. Translated by Burton Watson. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12516-X.
- Sato, Hiroaki (2002). Grass and Tree Cairn. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press.
- Stevens, John (1980). Mountain Tasting: Zen Haiku by Santoka Taneda. Weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-0151-5.
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The Life and Zen Haiku Poetry of Santoka Taneda (9784805316559)
Literature- SKU:
- 9784805316559
- Publisher:
- Tuttle Publishing
- ISBN:
- 9784805316559
- Format:
- Hardcover
- Date Published:
- 05/18/2021
- Illustrations:
- over 300 haiku and b&w illustrations throughout
- Number of Pages:
- 352
- Trim Size:
- 5 1/8 X 8
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The fascinating and quirky biography of a disheveled poet, skillfully interwoven with his original works.
Zen monk Santoka Taneda (1882-1940) is one of Japan's most beloved modern poets, famous for his "free-verse" haiku, the dominant style today. This book tells the fascinating story of his life, liberally sprinkled with more than 300 of his poems and extracts from his essays and journals—compiled by his best friend and biographer Sumita Oyama and elegantly translated by William Scott Wilson.
Santoka was a literary prodigy, but a notoriously disorganized human being. By his own admission, he was incapable of doing anything other than wandering the countryside and writing verses. Although Santoka married and had a son, he devoted his life to poetry, studying Zen, drinking sake and wandering the length and breadth of the Japanese islands on foot, as a mendicant monk.
The poet's life alternated between long periods of solitary retreat and restless travel, influenced by his tragic childhood. When not on the road, he lived in simple grass huts supported by friends and family. Santoka was a lively conversationalist who was often found so drunk he could only make it home with the help of a friendly neighbor or passerby. But above all, throughout his life, he wrote constantly; poetry and essays flowed from him effortlessly.
Santoka's eccentric style of haiku is highly regarded in Japan today for being truly modern and free from formal constraints. His journals and essays are equally thought-provoking—the musings of an unkempt but supremely self-conscious mind on everything from writing to cooking rice and his failure to live a more orderly life.
This translation and its introduction are by best-selling author William Scott Wilson, whose other works include The Book of Five Rings and The Lone Samurai. Wilson provides sensitive renditions of the haiku illustrating Santoka's life as well as an extensive introduction to the influences on Santoka's work, from contemporary haiku poets and his Buddhist teachers.
Alongside the book, readers have access to a two-hour online audio recording of 331 of Santoka Taneda's haiku, read in Japanese by a native speaker, and in English.
About the Author:
Sumita Oyama (1899-1994) was born in Okayama Prefecture. He practiced haiku and Zen for over 60 years. He was a prolific writer, publishing many books on the haiku poet Santoka. Oyama was a good friend and benefactor of Santoka, and studied "free" haiku under the poet Ogiwara Seisensui.
William Scott Wilson has published over 20 books that have been translated into more than 20 languages, including The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi. His first book, a translation of Hagakure, was featured in the film Ghost Dog by director Jim Jarmusch. He was awarded a Commendation from the Foreign Ministry of Japan in 2005 and inducted into the Order of the Rising sun by the Japanese Emperor in 2015. Wilson lives in Florida.
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Santōka Taneda — Selected Quotes
Santōka Taneda (1882–1940) was a Japanese haiku poet known for his free verse style and deep connection to nature. His quotes reflect themes of presence, simplicity, and the beauty of everyday life.
Notable Quotes by Santōka Taneda A-Z Quotes+2:
“Do not be attached to the past or wait for the future. Be grateful for each day, that is enough. I do not believe in a future world, I deny the past. I believe entirely in the present. Employ your entire body and mind in the eternal now.”
“Haiku is not a shriek, a howl, a sigh, or a yawn; rather, it is the deep breath of life.”
“Real haiku is the soul of poetry. Anything that is not actually present in one's heart is not haiku. The moon glows, flowers bloom, insects cry, water flows. There is no place we cannot find flowers or think of the moon. This is the essence of haiku. Go beyond the restrictions of your era, forget about purpose or meaning, separate yourself from historical limitations — there you will find the essence of true art, religion, and science.”
“Several ripe persimmons Left on the branches; Gray clouds come and go.”
“Weeds grasp their own essence and express its truth.”
“Completely dried up, They've become beans.”
“Too much contact with people brings conflict, hatred, and attachment. To rid myself of inner conflicts and hatred, I must walk.”
“One breath, one step, one verse.”
“How can you be a beggar if you have extra money?”
“One room, one person, one light, one desk, one bath, and one cup of sake.”
“My life has been a continuous waste. I pour sake. Out of it are born my haiku.”
These quotes capture Santōka’s philosophy of living in the moment, appreciating nature’s small wonders, and finding meaning in simplicity. They remain relevant for anyone seeking mindfulness and a deeper connection to the present.
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