- Chiyo-ni
Chiyo-ni (Kaga no Chiyo) (千代尼;
1703 -2 October ,1775 ) was aJapan esepoet of theEdo period, widely regarded as one of the greatest femalehaiku poets.Born in Matto,
Kaga Province (now Hakusan,Ishikawa Prefecture ) as a daughter of a picture framer, she began writing haiku poetry aged 7. At age 12, she became the disciple of the great poetMatsuo Bashō , and by the age of 17, she had become very popular all over Japan for her poetry. Her poems, although mostly dealing with nature, work for a unity of nature with humanity. Her own life was that of thehaikai poets who made their lives and the world they lived in one with themselves.Chiyo-ni's teachers were the students of Bashō, and she stayed true to his style, although she did develop on her own as an independent figure. Today, the
morning glory is a favorite flower for the people of her home town, because she left a number of poems on that flower.She is perhaps best known for this haiku:
"morning glory!
"the well bucket-entangled,
"I ask for water
(trans. Donegan and Ishibashi) [Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi. "Chiyo-ni: Woman Haiku Master", Tuttle, 1996]Shokouji temple in Hakusan contains a display of her personal effects.The American rock band
Red House Painters adapted one of Chiyo's haiku for the chorus of their song "Dragonflies":"I wonder in what fields today
"He chases dragonflies in play
"My little boy who ran away."
(trans. Page) [Curtis Hidden Page. "Japanese Poetry", Houghton Mifflin, 1923]
For the song, the last line was amended to, "my little lost girl so far away". [ [http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/r/redhousepainters8207/dragonflies286038.html Red House Painters, Dragonflies Lyrics] retrieved 2008-07-13]References
ee also
*
Japanese literature
*List of Japanese authors External links
* [http://www.millikin.edu/haiku/research/SouthardChiyo-ni.html "O Mabson Southard and Chiyo-ni: Masters of Buddhist Tradition"] by Brock Peoples at
Millikin University
* [http://www.millikin.edu/haiku/research/NessChiyo-ni.html "Pamela Miller Ness and Chiyo-ni: A Comparison of Two Women Haiku Authors"] by Joan Leach at Millikin University
* [http://www.ahapoetry.com/twamth1.htm "With Liquid Voice Unendingly"] arenku by Chiyo and Sue Jo, translated by Lenore Mayhew and William McNaughton in Modern Haiku, XIV:2, 1983
* [http://www.ancientworlds.net/member/Ishi/ChiyoNi "The Wasi of ChiyoNi Ishi"] at ancientworlds.com
* [http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv2n3/reprints/Patricia_Donegan.html Chiyo-ni's Haiku Style] Excerpts from "Chiyo-ni: Woman Haiku Master", by Patricia Donegan, in "Simply Haiku"
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