Many people the world over revere the Japanese poet Bashō (1644 – 1694), master of the Haiku. Bashō was to the Haiku what Shake-speare was to the sonnet – in some sense simultaneously creating the form and perfecting it.
Not as many are familiar with Bashō’s contemporary, Hanatō Fukui (1650 – 1713).
Among Hanatō’s most famous works are his “Ode To Milk”, “Rumination On An Infection”, and, of course, his “Argument Against Mildness”. He is most renowned however for his sequence of cat Haikus, written throughout his life and finally collected and published posthumously in 1733 in a volume entitled simply “The Edo Cat Haikus”. The original work featured illustrations that Hanatō himself had executed over many years.
We feature today a sampling of three of Hanatō’s magnificent pieces, from the new translation by Trini Savitch:
So many cats around,
So many goddamn cats.
They’re freaking me out.
I wake in the ditch,
Face-down in fishy vomit.
Mine? The alley cat’s?
Cat licks his behind.
Full moon makes all pure and white.
Cat licks his behind.
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Awesome! That Hanato was a true visionary.
those are fricking funny
:)
Yes, that Hanato sure knew what he was doing. Did you know that once, as a spiritual practice, he ate nothing but onions for 18 months?
I’m glad you are introducing the world to Hanato. Even Japan needs to be introduced to his masterpieces. And what a fascinating life he had! I read that he once rowed out on a raft intending to float aimlessly in the ocean for as long as it took him to die, or the wind and current to carry him back to shore. He subsisted on only umeboshi and cat’s milk (really). After ten days, he awoke lying on the beach, without his raft, and to a cat licking his face. And not just any cat: his cat, which had walked over 50 km to find him! It’s all just as true as these poems.