A Bundle of Charcoal, Volume I

Abstract

This thesis presents the first English translation of the first volume of Sumidawara (translated as “A Bundle of Charcoal” here), Matsuo Bashō’s (1644-1694) last published linked verse anthology, and part of the poet’s “Seven Great Haikai Collections”. A distinctive aspect of Sumidawara is that it is the work that best exemplifies karumi (“lightness”), the poetic style that Bashō envisioned and disseminated among his followers in the last years of his life. However, the lack of familiarity with this work and its closeness to other aesthetic principles associated with Bashō’s poetics, such as zoku (“folk”), make this a hazy concept for most Western readers. Moreover, while some critics have traditionally associated karumi with formal aspects such as simplicity in diction and structure, the sociopolitical implications of this style have been largely ignored. In sum, Sumidawara stands as a missing link in Basho’s repertoire to readers in the West but, perhaps more importantly, it denotes a significant conceptual gap in our understanding of Japanese poetry.