Fine Japanese Calligraphy
The Art of Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase

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Shake even the grave!
My wailing is
the autumn wind!

Basho

Beautiful hand-lettered scrolls by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase

 These hand-lettered Japanese scrolls are made with Japanese paper and have a beautiful high-quality silk border. The scrolls come ready to hang and are designed to last generations. Each piece is a unique work of art hand-lettered and signed by Eri Takase.

Your scroll will be personally hand-lettered by Master Takase when your order is placed. Scrolls are normally completed in a few business days.

Japanese Scroll
Haiku by Basho
H3022VC6A
$190 + shipping


 

Japanese Scroll
Haiku by Basho
H3022VD6A
$190 + shipping


 

Japanese Scroll
Haiku by Basho
H3022VS6A
$190 + shipping


 

Japanese Scroll
Haiku by Basho
H3022VS6B
$190+shipping


 

Cursive

Cursive Design

Cursive Design

Semi-Cursive

Semi-Cursive

(5 designs in catalog)

Shake even the grave!
My wailing is
the autumn wind! ^[1]

Basho wrote this lamenting the death of his friend Issho - a man of talent who died before his time.

From the sampling of translations below you can see there are two general interpretations of this haiku. Some use words like "crying" and "weeping" - as if Basho's felt a relatively quiet sadness or sorrow. Dumoulin writes, "Death and birth alike belong to the life that comes from nature and is reabsorbed by nature. In many songs Basho develops variations on the motif of the autumn wind. When he mourns the death of his young poet friend Issho, the autumn wind breathes the pure sorrow of death". ^[2]

Others use "wailing" and "crying voice" to show there is a deeper emotion than simply sorrow and sadness - there is anger, there is bitterness, and there is frustration - Basho's grief is a cold, biting wind that shakes the earth itself!

Miyamoto writes, "This verse is an elegy of Issho, a poet of Kanazawa who, although not a personal pupil of Basho, had a warm admiration for him and his poetry. He was comparatively young, but evinced a remarkable poetic talent. Therefore Basho deeply lamented his premature death, and his feelings were powerfully excited. The result was this verse, which means :- "The autumn wind is my lamentation; therefore, grave-mound, move with it!" What a violent outburst of grief! Perhaps none but poets of Basho's genius and sincerity can think of such impressive symbolism." ^[3] [Note: Bold/underline emphasis added by us]

We have tried to reflect in our translation the pure grief of this poem. And in the cursive designs Master Takase has attempted to capture the depth of emotion in the brush strokes.

Asataro Miyamori suggests the translation:

Oh, grave-mound, move!
My wailing is the autumn wind.  ^[4]

Minoru Toyoda suggests the translation:

Shake! O tomb!
The sound of my wailing
Is the wind of autumn!  ^[4]

Hoffman suggests the translation:

Move, O tomb,
the sound of my weeping,
is the wind of autumn .  ^[5]

Nelson and Saito suggest the translation:

Mound, Oh Move!
My crying voice is
The autumn wind. ^[6]

Blyth suggests the translation:

Shake, oh tomb!
My weeping voice
Is the wind of autumn. ^[7]

and

Shake, oh grave!
The autumn wind
Is the voice of my wailing ^[10]

Calligraphy Notes:

1) In older works, one most commonly sees waga written as a single kanji 我. The modern form adds the hiragana が and I use this in this in these designs. As an example, Miyamori has 塚も動け我泣聲は秋の風 ^[8] though Blyth has 塚も動け我が泣聲は秋の風 ^[9]. I have used the latter.

Translation Notes:

1) 塚 (tsuka) means "mound". The particle も (mo) means "also" or "even". This is important and is not reflected, in our opinion, in most of the translations. We capture this by using "even" as in "shake even the grave" 塚も動け. Basho is angry at the world.

2) 動け (ugoke) is the imperative form of 動く (ugoku) meaning "to move".

3) 我が (waga) means "my; one's own; our". By itself 我 has eight different readings!

4) 泣聲 (naku koe) would today be written 泣き声 (nakigoe) meaning "cry; crying voice".

5) 秋の風 (aki no kaze) meaning autumn wind is composed of 秋 (aki) meaning autumn and 風 (kaze) meaning wind.