A Few Words on Wright's Introduction to Buson:Haiku (Tavern, 2011)

Franz Wright provides a strange little introduction to his small collection of translations based on the haiku of Buson. I say it is strange because he hardly mentions Buson at all. He refers to Basho and Shakespeare. (They were not contemporaries, though both occupied the 17^th century: Shakespeare in the first half and Basho in the second.) He refers to Dante, who ‘wandered’ his own country, as did Basho his. Wright reminds us, Dante did not do so ‘voluntarily’.

As Basho wandered – not Buson – ancient Japan (a “difficult and gorgeous country”) he used the haiku form to record experience, to function one imagines as a kind of greeting card for establishing community along the way and for making sense of living itself.  Then Basho died.

In the history of Japanese literature, Buson is a later arrival. About Buson, Wright is less than forthcoming, noting only that he was a “wonderfully gifted disciple of Basho” and left behind “a very beautiful body of work all his own.”

For me, Wright’s small collection of Buson remains much cherished to this day, as it makes the perfect companion for a cafe on a rainy afternoon.

Tavern Books:  https://www.tavernbooks.org/

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Jon Cone