Kigo

A man once voyaged endlessly through dangerous oceans and roads, hoping to die on the journey. Instead, it brought one of the best literary pieces of the poetic form, Haiku, into the world. This man was Basho. Haiku is a contemplative, unrhymed Japanese poem that attempts to capture the essence of a moment in which nature is linked to human life. Basho wandered through Japan, writing “Haikus” based on his observations. Haiku comes from a “first verse” called hokku. Basho’s poetry expressed his views

b) I think the subject matter is a bird in a bare tree, at dusk. (98) Question 2 a) Techniques used in this poem are: • Alliteration “bare branch” (Line 1) • Assonance “rook roosts” (Line 2) “autumn dusk” (Line 3) • “Kigo” – a word stating or suggesting a

written in Japan after World War II. It is deeply steeped in Japanese culture, and much of its deeper meaning can be lost to the western audience. One such example is the use of Summer and Winter as the titles for the two parts of the novel. In Japan, kigo and kidai are words and concepts that are traditionally associated with the different seasons. These range from obvious, such as the connection between summer and heat, to obscure, such as autumn and remembrance of the dead. Mishima wrote waka, a form