S.O.L.A.R.

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covered
in bird shit
a willow

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This poem, by Issa, clearly articulates the difference between ‘ushin‘ and ‘mushin‘ in Japanese ‘renga’ (two concepts which are very important to both haiku and senryu). The term ‘renga’ refers to ‘linked poems’ written by a group of poets in a kind of poetic game. First, one poet composes a ‘hokku’ (a ’starting verse’) to which the other poets add, displaying their skill through the manner in which they alter the course of the poem. William J. Higginson distinguishes between two distinct kinds of classical renga; the ‘ushin-renga‘ and the ‘mushin-renga‘. Ushin-renga refers to ’serious renga’ “which followed the courtly traditions of elevated diction and tone.” (1) Higginson translates ushin-renga as meaning ‘poetry with heart’ and defines its key quality as the lack of ‘vulgar’ imagery and borrowed words. Higginson goes on to define mushin-renga as ‘heartless poetry’, which “allowed virtually all subject matter and words that would never appear in courtly [poetry].” (2) Eventually mushin renga would come to be known as ‘renku‘. Using Higginson’s definition the difference between ‘ushin‘ and ‘mushin‘ can be reduced to the use of vulgar or crude language and themes which would were not seen as proper for classical poetry by the courtly class (shitting, pissing, fucking, and so on). With this in mind, the poem above is clearly an example of ‘mushin’ (rather than ‘ushin’). However, using Higginson’s definition, other Issa poems can be called ‘ushin’. It is this point which I see as problematic.

The terms ushin and mushin, as I have said, are traditionally translated in haiku theory as meaning with, or without, heart. However, the term mushin is also used in martial arts, where it is translated quite differently. In martial arts mushin means ‘without mind’ or ‘no mind’ rather than ‘without heart’ (’mu‘ meaning without, or no, and ‘shin‘ meaning mind). In martial arts it is used to define a state of mind which is emptied of thought and emotion, so that it is opened (or filled) with ‘everything’. Mushin is a shortened form of the Zen phrase ‘mushin no shin‘ (meaning ‘mind of no mind’). (3) If we follow this definition ‘mushin renga‘ is poetry ‘without minding’ or even ‘without the constraints of courtly moral distinctions’. It is a radical poetry in opposition to the ruling class. Rather than pre-deciding that some subjects are poetic, while others are not poetic, the mushin poet sees all things as poetic. In a sense the mushin poet does not ‘mind’ what they write about - everything is poetry (and poetry is everything).

From this perspective the mushin poet does not use vulgar or crude language, because they do not see words like ’shit’ as vulgar (as this is a distinction made by the ‘mind’). The mushin poet does not indulge in vulgar subject matter, they are able to see the beauty in something as simple as a sparrow shitting (the sparrow shitting to the mushin poet is not perceived as crude). Words like ’shit’ and ‘piss’ are just words and are not given any special significance in mushin. This definition of mushin is more akin to an ‘attitude’ rather than an ‘attribute’. Rather than using ushin and mushin to distinguish between individual poems (as attributes of certain poems) I would prefer to use them to refer to the attitude of certain poets - those poets that see the whole world of phenomena as poetic (mushin) and those that let their sensibilities (or ‘mind’) get in the way of seeing the poetic (ushin). This is similar to the difference between using the term ‘punk’ to refer to a genre of music (and subsequently as an iconic ‘look’ which can be marketed and recycled in the mainstream) and using the term punk to refer to an attitude found in musicians from a variety of musical styles (which cannot be reduced to icons, which are in excess of ‘genre’).

What became of mushin renga? Richard Gilbert and Shinjuku Rollingstone write, “The mushin renga led to haikai no renga, more familiarly haikai (or renku in recent times). Haikai means something like ‘humorous’. . . . From the 12th century . . . . thousands, no doubt millions, of [renga] stanzas were composed, the majority in non-standard, or mushin renga and haikai. The more serious [ushin renga] were [however] more apt to be recorded.” (4) The ‘haikai‘ eventually gave way to the ‘senryu‘ and the ‘kyoka‘ (the mushin equivalents of haiku and tanka respectively) which are topics I will leave for another discussion. (5)

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-References-

(1) William J. Higginson, Renga and Renku (first published in Lynx magazine in 1993). To read more about ‘renku’ visit Higginson’s renku website. Other William Higginson essays; Haiku by the Numbers, From One Line Poems to One Line Haiku, Haiku is Mainstream (with Penny Harter).

(2) Ibid.

(3) See the Wikipedia article on ‘mushin‘.

(4) Richard Gilbert and Shinjuku Rollingstone, The Distinct Brilliance of Zappai and the Need to Reconsider its HSA Definition (first published in Simply Haiku, Vol. 3 No. 1, Spring 2005).

(5) For a brief discussion of tanka’s origins and the development of haiku from both the hokku and the haiku see Solar’s translation of Basho (2).

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This is part of a series of translations of haiku poetry undertaken by Solar, according to the principals of floating-lines, pivot-words and dialectics. We will attempt to post one new haiku translation every week. All translations copyright Solar. See more translations.

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Tags: Attitude, Crude, Fuck, Haikai, Haiku, Heart, Hokku, Issa, Kyoka, Mind, Mushin, Mushin no Shin, Piss, Poetic, Poetry, Punk Music, Renga, Renku, Richard Gilbert, Shinjuku Rollingstone, Shit, Ushin, Vulgarity, William J. Higginson

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under Haiku Translations, Issa, Sol Words. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.