haikaiTALKS: Japanese aesthetics - fuga no makoto - a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree
host: Kala Ramesh
25th November 2023
Japanese aesthetics: Fuga no Makoto
Fuga No Makoto means truth, sincerity and honesty which a haiku poet needs to aim for when writing poems.
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“When Basho talks about fuga no makoto, this is normally interpreted as poetic sincerity. However, makoto also means truths, or true words, or true things. … In terms of poets, makoto is that which springs from their magokoro (true heart, or soul). Haiku is certainly capable of (local, particular) truths. Sometimes it is capable of universal truths and that is when great haiku poems are born.
Poetic truths, then, must be a criterion against which inferior and dubious haiku poems can be weeded out. Haiku is part of the haiku poet’s way of life. Haiku is partly what he or she is. If he or she is not truthful his or her haiku cannot be good poetry. In today’s climate where haiku values are confused, it is important for us to go back to such stringent criterion as poetic truths.”
Melissa Allen
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First post: You search and find a haiku that has Fuga no Makoto.
You'll give your reason/s why you think it has this aesthetic nuance. Second post: This will be your first haiku with Fuga no Makoto
Third post:
This will be your second haiku with Fuga no Makoto
Please give your feedback on others' commentary and poems too. _()_
Have fun! Keep writing and commenting!
Still trying to get a grasp of this week’s concept. Here’s a lovely haiku by Kiyoko Tokutomi that I read as mono no aware in fuga no makoto :
How I love it
the sea of my hometown—
cherry petal shell
https://yths.org/poets-personal-pages/kiyoko-tokutomi/
#3
winter room
brother’s car race sticker
unremovable
Sabi from the aged sticker and room, and mono no aware from his passion that once existed.
Keiko Izawa, Japan
Feedback appreciated.
Edited:
autumn amavasya
a father stealthily enters
his daughter's bedroom
Is this clearer?
What is the meaning of Incet?: sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry. also : the crime of engaging in such sexual intercourse. Etymology. Latin incestus sexual impurity, from incestus impure, from in- not + castus pure.
october amavasya
a father noiselessly enters
his daughter's room
Kala Ramesh
India
mono no aware - the pathos of things and transcience—in fuga no makoto
amavasya - no moon night
information for non-Indians
Feedback?? Friends, if you get this ku and press like, please tell me why you like it! _()_
I think it might be a good idea to state which aesthetic tool you are combining with fuga no makoto.
ku#2
Revised with guidance from Keiko
forest marigolds
stillness
of the yellow pond
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Original
dense forest
the total stillness
of a marigold-yellow pond
look forward to feedback. Thanks