On Toriawase
Susumu Takiguchi
Oxford, UK
Alison Williams' following haiku has provides a good opportunity to discuss what
is known in Japan as toriawase (juxtaposition of two "things"):
winter rain
just listen to it
falling, falling...
Alison Williams
shown Dec. 18, 1999
First and foremost, I think this is a good haiku. Two things make it so. One is
the second line, and the other is the repetition (refrain) of the word
"falling", followed by dot, dot , dot.
"Listen" is one those plain English words which turn poetic if
correctly used. The first line is visual. The second line turns all that into
audio, a switch which has a similar effect to that of kireji (cutting word). A
switch from one sense of ours to another is a very effective way of making a
haiku dynamic, non-flat and more immediate, Basho's favourite trick!
The third line makes us to shut up and appreciate the shigure (winter
rain) by listening to its music. There are two ways of appreciating
"things", such as paintings, music and the Japanese garden. One is
doing so by talking about them. The other is doing the appreciating of them,
precisely, by not talking.
In Alison's haiku, there is only one subject (or object, the same thing!), the
winter rain. In other words, she did not use the technique called toriawase,
or what is called, in English, juxtaposition. Is this bad? Or, is it OK? My
answer is that not only it is OK, but in this haiku, it should be just as Alison
has done. Why?
Toriawase (or kakeawase) is a technique which Basho is believed to have
regarded as an important feature of haiku poetics. It was disseminated by
Kyoriku, Basho's art teacher. Kyoriku became Basho's pupil in Genroku 5 (1692),
only two years before the great man died. Nevertheless, or because of it, he
became not only one of the most influential of all Basho's disciples, but also
an important proponent of the Basho school.
In Hentsuki which he co-edited, Kyoriku relates:
...Our Master has said that hokku
is (the business) of toriawase and that the good (haiku poet) is he who puts two
(things) together and arranges them well...
Basho was keen to learn painting
from Kyoriku. It is believed that the two talked considerably about technical
points of how to create good paintings, and that this
could have given Basho the idea for toriawase technique to be used in his
haiku as well.
Basho's haiku, which Kyoriku used as an example of good toriawase, follows:
Harusame ya hachi no su tsutau yane no mori
Spring rain
Follows the bee's nest
leaking through the roof. (Sumidawara, tr ST)
Spring rain and the bee's nest are the two juxtaposed elements of the
haiku. Basho is also said to have got the idea of toriawase from what is
known as maeku-zuke, or verse-capping: In renku, the mae-ku
(previous verse) is capped by tsuke-ku (capping verse). The combination
of the two could have given Basho an inspiration to use it within a single verse
itself.
It may sound as if toriawase is a golden rule, or a "be all and end
all". However, like many (or all) other haiku tenets, it is not. On the
contrary, it is wrong for anyone to be a slave to any rule including toriawase.
The haiku poet writes the poem from the heart, first, and looks to see if it has
followed any principle, second, if necessary. To put up any haiku principle
first, and then force the work to follow it, is an enticing trap which many fall
into. This is putting the cart before the horse. (The same thing can be said
with many other well-accepted values, such as "surprise",
"moment" and "metaphor", to name but a few.)
Basho himself admonished the bad habit of sticking too rigidly to toriawase. He
is said to have mentioned to Shudo:
...you should compose haiku as if
you are beating out the gold...
It was Kyorai, another important
disciple of Basho, who was opposed to Kyoriku's gospel about toriawase. Kyorai
cited examples of Basho's haiku which did not follow toriawase principle (Tabineron).
Other opponents to toriawase, such as Yaba, maintained that it was little more
than a device to help out the novice, and should not be regarded as a true
principle to be applied universally.
My own and only principle in writing haiku is not to have any principles. It is
useful to have toriawase in your tool box, but resolve to use it well -- as, and
when, necessary. You should not be used by your tool. It is distressing
to see many haiku poems, one after another, religiously following the toriawase
rule. It, therefore, struck me as so refreshing to see Alison's winter rain
haiku without toriawase. If this haiku were bad, it would definitely not be so
because it does not follow the technique of toriawase.
Originally posted to
WHChaikuforum, January 1999
