Haiku, Volume 4: Autumn-Winter

by R.H. Blyth

hardcover poetry book

Genres: Poetry, Japan, Classics, Japanese Literature

326 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Reginald Horace Blyth was an English author, interpreter, translator, devotee of Japanese culture and English Professor, having lived in Japan for eighteen years.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

R.H. Blyth began his Haiku series with Haiku, Volume 1: Eastern Culture, which functioned as a commentary of the evolution and cultural context of haiku. He then gave us two more volumes, Haiku, Volume 2: Spring and Haiku, Volume 3: Summer-Autumn, that work as a haiku almanac (saijiki) for the seasonal references (kigo) used historically for spring (including the minor season of New Year's Day), summer, and a portion of autumn. Each of these volumes are filled with haiku by a variety of past haiku masters, including commentary on each by Blyth. Though it is helpful to read this series chronologically by volume, the format and content of the works is easy to follow and accessible for any fairly-seasoned reader of haiku.

Haiku, Volume 4: Autumn-Winter does not stray from the format used in volumes two and three of the series. As the title states, this volume focuses on haiku that were inspired by the autumn and winter seasons, which are placed in seven major categories that are listed below. Many kigo are identified for each of these categories, including examples of haiku that utilize the kigo and commentary by Blyth himself. A great variety of haiku poets are included in the series, but there is no shortage of works written by the four masters of haiku: Bashō, Buson, Issa, and Shiki. The consistency of this series helps to keep these volumes feel like one consistent work where haiku of any season can be enjoyed and understood!

Haiku, Volume 3: Summer-Autumn ended after only going through two of the seven major categories these haiku are placed in for each season. Because of this, Haiku, Volume 4: Autumn-Winter begins on the third major category for autumn haiku. Below are all of the categories and kigo that Blyth attributed to autumn in this series, but I have also included a note on where this volume starts:

The Season
o The Seventh Month
o Lingering Summer Heat
o The Month of Leaves
o The Cold Night
o The Beginning of Autumn
o Autumn Morning
o Mid-Autumn
o Autumn
o The Tenth Month
o Autumn Evening
o The Long Night
o Departing Autumn
Sky and Elements
o The Autumn Sky
o A Night of Stars
o The Milky Way
o Mist
o The Moon
o Autumn Rain
o The Wind of Autumn
o The Autumn Storm
o Dew (End of Volume III)
Fields and Mountains (Beginning of Volume 4)
o Autumn Mountains
o The Autumn Moor
o The Autumn Sea
o The Water of Autumn
Gods and Buddhas
o The Feast of All Souls
o The Table of the Spirits
o Jizō
Human Affairs
o The Festival of the Weaver
o Lanterns
o Fireworks
o The Charcoal Kiln
o Visiting Graves
o The Bon Dance
o An Autumn Journey
o The Fulling-Block
o Harvesting
o Gleaning
o Wrestling
o Scarecrows
Birds and Beasts
o Deer
o Wild Geese
o Cranes
o Quails
o Woodpeckers
o Birds of Passage
o Snipe
o Sparrows
o Small Birds
o Dragon-flies
o Grasshoppers and Crickets
o Autumn Butterflies
o Autumn Mosquitoes
o Autumn Cicadas
o Spiders
o Kajika
o Insects
o Bagworms
o Earthworms
Trees and Flowers
o Roses of Sharon
o Autumn Leaves
o Willow Leaves Falling
o Lespedeza
o Reeds
o Medicinal Roots
o Millet
o Morning-Glories
o Pampas Grass
o Maiden Flowers
o Hibiscus
o Wild Flowers
o Gourds
o Orchids
o The Banana Plant
o The Paulownia
o Grapes
o Persimmons
o Chestnuts
o Buckwheat
o Vines
o Mushrooms
o Berries
o Pears
o Apples
o Wild Chamomiles
o Chrysanthemums

Blyth gives a haiku example for each kigo above, though some may have more attention given to them than other (scarecrows for example). This is not the fault of the author, as many poets are drawn to certain subjects more than others, regardless of how many different kigo may be available for a season. Blyth gives respectful consideration to each kigo and haiku included in this series, and it proves to be a great resource for the reader that wants to enjoy haiku or even better their own writings.

The series ends with the winter season, with a distinct cutoff right before New Year's Day. In this way the series is circular and allows for volumes two, three and four of the Haiku series to be picked up in any order. Below are the kigo that Blyth attributes to the winter section of his series:

The Season
o The Beginning of Winter
o The Depth of Winter
o The God-less Month
o The Cold
o The Departing Year
o The End of the Year
Sky and Elements
o The Winter Moon
o The First Winter Rain
o Winter Rain
o Hoar Frost
o Sleet
o The First Snow
o Snow
o Hail
o Ice
o Icicles
o The Winter Wind
Fields and Mountains
o The Withered Moor
o The Winter Garden
o The Winter River
o The Dried-Up Waterfall
Gods and Buddhas
o Bowl-Beating
o Winter Nembutsu
o The Gods’ Absence
o The Ten Nights
o The Ceremony in Advance
o The Buddha
Human Affairs
o “Spring” Cleaning
o Failing Strength
o Rice-Buying
o The Charcoal Fire
o The Banked Fire
o Waking at Night
o The Brazier
o The Kotatsu
o The Blanket
o Socks Drying
o Winter Seclusion
o The Fish-Trapper
o Charcoal
o The Falconer
o The Old Calendar
o Mochi-Makers
Birds and Beasts
o Bats
o Plovers
o Seagulls
o Water-Birds
o Kogamo
o Wild Ducks
o Wrens
o Sea-Slugs
Trees and Flowers
o Camphor-Trees
o Daikon
o Turnips
o Sowing Barley
o Winter Desolation
o The Winter Grove
o Withered Pampas Grass
o Daffodils
o Fallen Leaves

For a season that can be primarily described as desolate and dreary (even by the author himself), this section is filled with potent haiku filled with humor, life, color, and compassion. This is a success by both Blyth and the haiku masters that he included in the volume. It may be hard for the reader to think of haiku attributed to winter being a way for the series to end on a "high note," but reading the series chronologically will not leave the reader on any less than if it had ended on any other season.

Overall, this volume has a lot to offer to the regular poetry reader and gives a lot to explore in the interpretation of haiku when it comes to subject, technique, and many other factors. I gave this volume five starts because I enjoyed this particular collection, but I will give a few pros and cons for this book and for the series as a whole.

For Haiku, Volume 4: Autumn-Winter

Pros
For seasons that many consider dreary and more lifeless than the spring and summer, the haiku in this volume focused on autumn and winter were full of warmth, color, energy, emotion, compassion, and many other feelings. This alone is an example of how powerful haiku is as literature (something stressed by the haiku master Masaoka Shiki), and can change the way modern haiku poets write their own autumn/winter haiku. The format is consistent and accessible, the commentary is useful and from a passionate writer, and the topics never stray too far from our understanding of haiku, whether that be from commentary or by comparing the work to examples of western poetry.

Cons
There are times where the imbalance of kigo used for a season/category is distracting. This is not always the case, but does come up from time to time when the reader realizes that they have been on the same kigo for 20+ pages while one kigo could have as little as one example for the whole series. There are errors in the print, specifically in the seasonal index and even in a few translated with unintentional repeated words like "the the."

For Blyth's Haiku series

Pros
There is no shortage of passion, effort, inspiration, examples, or any other aspects of these volumes on Blyth's part. The western world owes a lot to Blyth for his dedication in bringing the literary practice of haiku to the English-speaking world the way that he did. I also appreciate his non-wooden translations of each haiku included in the volume, which I have noticed to be a problem with many other haiku collections. It takes great talent to be able to both translate the literal words and poetic feel of haiku from Japanese to English.

Cons
Most of my issues with the series is on the publisher and not on Blyth. For the record, I read the Angelic Press copies of this series, and I caught many editor errors in multiple volumes. I understand that some errors are bound to happen when there are 1600+ pages for a series, but these volumes could have been given a bit more respect in how they were edited. On Blyth, I mentioned in my review of volume one that his passion can get in the way of making him seem more like a Zen preacher than a person writing about haiku, but that is hardly the case in volumes two, three, and four of this series. Also, the books of this series are some of the earlies in English to address this topic, and there are some modern writings that address these topics more in depth, or even in a way that is better communicated to the reader. That does not detract from what Blyth did with this series, but it does mean that there are other options.

I would consider this series to be a must read for any haiku enthusiast and functions as one of the best anthologies of translated haiku! That may not have been Blyth specific intention, but just like any poetry, the work is tandem with how the reader interprets, perceives, and uses the information.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

[UPDATE]

Because this edition of the haiku is not connected to the main Goodreads profile for R.H. Blyth, I posted this review over on the profile Haiku, Volume 4: Autumn-Winter. I wanted the review to be available to the people that find this new print of the original book, while still offering the review to the original work.

[Original Review]

R.H. Blyth began his Haiku series with Haiku (Volume I): Eastern Culture, which functioned as a commentary of the evolution and cultural context of haiku. He then gave us two more volumes, Haiku (Volume II): Spring and Haiku (Volume III): Summer / Autumn, that work as a haiku almanac (saijiki) for the seasonal references (kigo) used historically for spring (including the minor season of New Year's Day), summer, and a portion of autumn. Each of these volumes are filled with haiku by a variety of past haiku masters, including commentary on each by Blyth. Though it is helpful to read this series chronologically by volume, the format and content of the works is easy to follow and accessible for any fairly-seasoned reader of haiku.

Haiku (VolumeIV): Autumn/Winter does not stray from the format used in volumes two and three of the series. As the title states, this volume focuses on haiku that were inspired by the autumn and winter seasons, which are placed in seven major categories that are listed below. Many kigo are identified for each of these categories, including examples of haiku that utilize the kigo and commentary by Blyth himself. A great variety of haiku poets are included in the series, but there is no shortage of works written by the four masters of haiku: Bashō, Buson, Issa, and Shiki. The consistency of this series helps to keep these volumes feel like one consistent work where haiku of any season can be enjoyed and understood!

Haiku (Volume III): Summer/Autumn ended after only going through two of the seven major categories these haiku are placed in for each season. Because of this, Haiku (VolumeIV): Autumn/Winter begins on the third major category for autumn haiku. Below are all of the categories and kigo that Blyth attributed to autumn in this series, but I have also included a note on where this volume starts:

The Season
o The Seventh Month
o Lingering Summer Heat
o The Month of Leaves
o The Cold Night
o The Beginning of Autumn
o Autumn Morning
o Mid-Autumn
o Autumn
o The Tenth Month
o Autumn Evening
o The Long Night
o Departing Autumn
Sky and Elements
o The Autumn Sky
o A Night of Stars
o The Milky Way
o Mist
o The Moon
o Autumn Rain
o The Wind of Autumn
o The Autumn Storm
o Dew (End of Volume III)
Fields and Mountains (Beginning of Volume 4)
o Autumn Mountains
o The Autumn Moor
o The Autumn Sea
o The Water of Autumn
Gods and Buddhas
o The Feast of All Souls
o The Table of the Spirits
o Jizō
Human Affairs
o The Festival of the Weaver
o Lanterns
o Fireworks
o The Charcoal Kiln
o Visiting Graves
o The Bon Dance
o An Autumn Journey
o The Fulling-Block
o Harvesting
o Gleaning
o Wrestling
o Scarecrows
Birds and Beasts
o Deer
o Wild Geese
o Cranes
o Quails
o Woodpeckers
o Birds of Passage
o Snipe
o Sparrows
o Small Birds
o Dragon-flies
o Grasshoppers and Crickets
o Autumn Butterflies
o Autumn Mosquitoes
o Autumn Cicadas
o Spiders
o Kajika
o Insects
o Bagworms
o Earthworms
Trees and Flowers
o Roses of Sharon
o Autumn Leaves
o Willow Leaves Falling
o Lespedeza
o Reeds
o Medicinal Roots
o Millet
o Morning-Glories
o Pampas Grass
o Maiden Flowers
o Hibiscus
o Wild Flowers
o Gourds
o Orchids
o The Banana Plant
o The Paulownia
o Grapes
o Persimmons
o Chestnuts
o Buckwheat
o Vines
o Mushrooms
o Berries
o Pears
o Apples
o Wild Chamomiles
o Chrysanthemums

Blyth gives a haiku example for each kigo above, though some may have more attention given to them than other (scarecrows for example). This is not the fault of the author, as many poets are drawn to certain subjects more than others, regardless of how many different kigo may be available for a season. Blyth gives respectful consideration to each kigo and haiku included in this series, and it proves to be a great resource for the reader that wants to enjoy haiku or even better their own writings.

The series ends with the winter season, with a distinct cutoff right before New Year's Day. In this way the series is circular and allows for volumes two, three and four of the Haiku series to be picked up in any order. Below are the kigo that Blyth attributes to the winter section of his series:

The Season
o The Beginning of Winter
o The Depth of Winter
o The God-less Month
o The Cold
o The Departing Year
o The End of the Year
Sky and Elements
o The Winter Moon
o The First Winter Rain
o Winter Rain
o Hoar Frost
o Sleet
o The First Snow
o Snow
o Hail
o Ice
o Icicles
o The Winter Wind
Fields and Mountains
o The Withered Moor
o The Winter Garden
o The Winter River
o The Dried-Up Waterfall
Gods and Buddhas
o Bowl-Beating
o Winter Nembutsu
o The Gods’ Absence
o The Ten Nights
o The Ceremony in Advance
o The Buddha
Human Affairs
o “Spring” Cleaning
o Failing Strength
o Rice-Buying
o The Charcoal Fire
o The Banked Fire
o Waking at Night
o The Brazier
o The Kotatsu
o The Blanket
o Socks Drying
o Winter Seclusion
o The Fish-Trapper
o Charcoal
o The Falconer
o The Old Calendar
o Mochi-Makers
Birds and Beasts
o Bats
o Plovers
o Seagulls
o Water-Birds
o Kogamo
o Wild Ducks
o Wrens
o Sea-Slugs
Trees and Flowers
o Camphor-Trees
o Daikon
o Turnips
o Sowing Barley
o Winter Desolation
o The Winter Grove
o Withered Pampas Grass
o Daffodils
o Fallen Leaves

For a season that can be primarily described as desolate and dreary (even by the author himself), this section is filled with potent haiku filled with humor, life, color, and compassion. This is a success by both Blyth and the haiku masters that he included in the volume. It may be hard for the reader to think of haiku attributed to winter being a way for the series to end on a "high note," but reading the series chronologically will not leave the reader on any less than if it had ended on any other season.

Overall, this volume has a lot to offer to the regular poetry reader and gives a lot to explore in the interpretation of haiku when it comes to subject, technique, and many other factors. I gave this volume five starts because I enjoyed this particular collection, but I will give a few pros and cons for this book and for the series as a whole.

For Haiku, Volume 4: Autumn-Winter

Pros
For seasons that many consider dreary and more lifeless than the spring and summer, the haiku in this volume focused on autumn and winter were full of warmth, color, energy, emotion, compassion, and many other feelings. This alone is an example of how powerful haiku is as literature (something stressed by the haiku master Masaoka Shiki), and can change the way modern haiku poets write their own autumn/winter haiku. The format is consistent and accessible, the commentary is useful and from a passionate writer, and the topics never stray too far from our understanding of haiku, whether that be from commentary or by comparing the work to examples of western poetry.

Cons
There are times where the imbalance of kigo used for a season/category is distracting. This is not always the case, but does come up from time to time when the reader realizes that they have been on the same kigo for 20+ pages while one kigo could have as little as one example for the whole series. There are errors in the print, specifically in the seasonal index and even in a few translated with unintentional repeated words like "the the."

For Blyth's Haiku series

Pros
There is no shortage of passion, effort, inspiration, examples, or any other aspects of these volumes on Blyth's part. The western world owes a lot to Blyth for his dedication in bringing the literary practice of haiku to the English-speaking world the way that he did. I also appreciate his non-wooden translations of each haiku included in the volume, which I have noticed to be a problem with many other haiku collections. It takes great talent to be able to both translate the literal words and poetic feel of haiku from Japanese to English.

Cons
Most of my issues with the series is on the publisher and not on Blyth. For the record, I read the Angelic Press copies of this series, and I caught many editor errors in multiple volumes. I understand that some errors are bound to happen when there are 1600+ pages for a series, but these volumes could have been given a bit more respect in how they were edited. On Blyth, I mentioned in my review of volume one that his passion can get in the way of making him seem more like a Zen preacher than a person writing about haiku, but that is hardly the case in volumes two, three, and four of this series. Also, the books of this series are some of the earlies in English to address this topic, and there are some modern writings that address these topics more in depth, or even in a way that is better communicated to the reader. That does not detract from what Blyth did with this series, but it does mean that there are other options.

I would consider this series to be a must read for any haiku enthusiast and functions as one of the best anthologies of translated haiku! That may not have been Blyth specific intention, but just like any poetry, the work is tandem with how the reader interprets, perceives, and uses the information.

[Alfonsas Andriuškevičius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buvo toks britas R. H. Blythas. Didis senosios japonų kultūros žinovas (paskutinius dešimtmečius iki mirties 1964 gyveno Japonijoje, antroji žmona - japonė, buvo asmeninis būsimojo imperatoriaus Akihito tutorius). Parašė fundamentalių veikalų apie Zen ir haiku. Žymiausias darbas, skirtas trieiliams - keturtomis "Haiku". Pirmajame tome autorius aptaria Rytų kultūrą. Kituose - daugybė įvairiausių autorių haiku ir superiniai Blytho komentarai. Turiu tik trečiąjį ("Summer - Autumn") ir ketvirtąjį ("Autumn - Winter") tomus. Bet man to visiškai pakanka. Mano mėgstami sezonai! Apie du tūkstančius trieilių! Ir - minėtieji komentarai... Daug skaitytojų, deja, suvokia haiku tik kaip buitinį vaizdelį (kaip bebūtų gaila, ir vienas kitas iš "Goodreads" bendruomenės). Blythas negailestingai pakerta tokio naivaus suvokimo šaknį. Jis atskleidžia giliuosius trieilių sluoksnius, akcentuoja jų religinius, filosofinius, egzistencinius, kosminius aspektus. Tai kas, kad retsykiais lyg ir perlenkia lazdą... Kad nelikčiau tuščiažodis, čia pateikiu keturis skirtingų poetų haiku ir juosius lydinčius (mano kupiūruotus trumpumo dėlei) Blytho komentarus.

Taigi: "Not a single stone / To throw at the dog: / The winter moon." Blythas: "A real religious poem. /.../ Man's extremity (just that moment of egolessness, when mental and physical action is suspended) is God's opportunity, - something, Something, some Power, slides imperceptibly into the mind in the form of cold moonlight."

Yaha: "An umbrella - one alone - / Passes by: / An evening of snow." Blythas: "/.../ This single umbrella, nothing else seen, moving through the snowy dusk, - as we gaze at it passing by, the mind moving with the umbrella and with no more thought and emotion than it, we know the meaning of the umbrella and him who holds it, and That which holds all things as they pass by."

Shiki: "A stray cat / Excreting / In the winter garden." Blythas: "The harmony between the three things is perfect. The thin, mangy, unlovely and unloving cat, sitting there in the cat's only ungainly attitude, with its eyes vacantly staring; the cold hard ground and withered grasses and fallen leaves. Nature has its ungraceful and ugly side, which has, however, no less meaning than the comely and beautiful."

Basho: "Winter seclusion; / On the gold screen, / The pine-tree ages." Blythas: "The pine-tree drawn on the gold background of the folding screen is an old one, but added to this is the age of the screen itself. Time is being added to the timeless. /.../ Without time there is no eternity; without timelessness nothing can exist in time. This is what the everlasting pine-tree actualizes as it ages on the golden screen."

[Darcee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perspective and explanation of the haikus is insightful. The drawings included are wonderful. I love that this is a collection reflecting on the seasons. I will be looking for the spring edition next.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid volume in the Blyth collection which introduced haiku to many in the West.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Idiosyncratic and influential reading and translation of what more rightly should be called 'hokku', but that's a lost cause now, in part because of the immense popularity of Blyth's four volumes.