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AIR
Meeting
Association of International Renku
Susumu Takiguchi
Oxford, UK |
I had the good fortune and privilege of being
invited to a very convivial and memorable renku-kai which was held at a most
appropriate place in Japan – Basho-an, at Sekiguchi, Tokyo. The meeting was
entitled Chikyu Renku Memoriaru, or Global Renku Memorial, and was a
commemoration of the very successful international renku meeting which was held
in Tokyo in October 2000. The venue is situated in one of the most scenic areas
in the Capital, lying at the foot of a leafy hill and along the Kanda-josui (the
Edogawa River). It is a stone’s throw from a dormitory at the top of the same
hill, where I lived four years as a university student. I used to walk pass this
Basho-an everyday on my way to and from my university nearby. Basho-an, at
Sekiguchi, is, of course, the place where Basho is believed to have worked as a
supervisor of the water system of the area from 1677 to 1680. He lived in Ryuge-an.
It was a lovely autumnal morning on 14 October
2001. The leaves were just turning red and yellow. The water of the Edogawa,
filthy and polluted in my days, looked totally clear and abundant, and to my
amazement I saw many koi (carp) swimming merrily. Going through the imposing
gate, I walked up the slope to reach the main house which had suffered fire
twice, first in 1938, and again in 1945. This Basho-an is now let for
haiku-related meetings. Hence, our renku-kai.
I was not late, but all the participants were
already there, some familiar faces and familiar names: my friend, Professor
Masahisa Fukuda; an ever-passionate enthusiast, Kris Kondo; our favourite lady,
Eiko Yachimoto; eternally beautiful and poetic Niji Fuyuno and her handsome,
intellectual better-half Ryu Yotsuya; my internet friend Edith Muta; renowned
renku poets who until then had been mere names to me - Kifu Futagami, Tateshi
Tsukamoto and Shizuka Yamamoto.
The group was divided into two. My group’s
"sabaki" (leader) was Professor Fukuda (pen name is Shinku). "Shuhitsu"
(script and assistant) was Ryu Yotsuya, and the translator was Eiko Yachimoto.
Kufu Futagami was "sabaki" of the other group, with translators, Kris
Kondo and Hiroshi Tamura.
Soon we went into full swing with a long,
friendly and active session of "han-kasen" (half-kasen of 18 stanzas)
ensued with Japanese delicacies - fruit and drinks thrown in. From time to time
I thought I must be daydreaming as the atmosphere and proceedings, which
strictly followed the "shikimoku" (traditional rules and conventions),
sent me to a kind of trance. In this trance, I could not make a clear
distinction between what I was experiencing and what must have actually been
going on in this sort of gatherings of "renju" (renku-haikai meeting
participants). The daydream was broken only by the excruciating pain in my knees
and legs, as I was now totally "unaccustomed" and out of practice to
the Japanese way of squatting on tatami.
During the session, I also renewed my strong
conviction that haiku and renku must have a reunion in one way or another after
their long separation. We cannot turn the clock back, nor should we. However,
haiku poets cannot conceivably understand haiku really well without knowing and
practicing renku. Similarly, renku poets can learn a lot from haiku, which has
gone through so much change and development since the decline of renku in the
late Edo Period, especially since Masaoka Shiki who struck a nearly fatal blow
to renku. Renku poets can learn from both the successes and mistakes of haiku
poets.
Perhaps what moved me most was the fact that
here we were, Japanese, American and German, all gathering together and
composing renku in Japanese and in English. National, ethnic and cultural
barriers were, at least temporarily, removed, language barriers mitigated,
egotism forgotten, kinship and teamwork kindled without jeopardising
individuality. What a gathering it was!
Read
the AIR Global Memorial Renku:
Taka-no-Za
Half Kasen: Okina Grows Melon
See
Photos From the AIR Meeting
