Santoka Taneda - Mountain Tasting : Zen Haiku by Santoka Taneda

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A NOTE ON THE FRONTISPIECE. One of Santoka's best-known haiku (see no. 18, p. 37), in his own calligraphy.

First edition, 1980

Fourth printing, 1991

Published by Weatherhill, Inc., New York, with editorial offices at Tanko-Weatherhill, Inc., 8-3 Nibancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102, Japan. Protected by copyright under terms of the International Copyright Union; all rights reserved. Printed and first published in Japan.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA :

Taneda, Santoka, 1882-1940. / Mountain tasting. / Bibliography:

p. / I. Title. / PL817.A62A28 / 895.6'14 / 80-97 / ISBN 0-83480151-5

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FOR MY PARENTS ARTHUR AND ANNE STEVENS WITH GRATITUDE

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Recently, a remarkable interest in the life and poetry of the mendicant Zen priest Santoka Taneda ( 1882-1940) has developed in Japan. Collections of Santoka's haiku and accounts of his life are being published regularly. At present, more books on Santoka are available than perhaps on any other Japanese poet, ancient or modern. In addition, he is considered to be a great Zen master much like Ikkyu, Hakuin, and Ryokan. How is it that such an eccentric, drink-loving haiku poet came to be so highly regarded?

From a literary standpoint, Santoka's poems are generally admired for their unadorned style, representative of the "new haiku movement," but this does not explain his great popularity with all types of people, not only poets and scholars. Whatever the literary merit of his work, far more important are the special Zen qualities of simplicity (wabi), solitude (sabi), and impermanence (mujo) conveyed in a modern setting by his haiku. Poetry has often been nothing more than a pastime for many in China and Japan, so that portrayals of "Poverty," "solitude," "meditation," and so on were mere conventions. In Santoka's case, however, such themes were absolute; no one was poorer, more alone, or more anguished. Hence his poems are alive, cutting to the marrow of existence. There is no dichotomy between poetry and poet, life and emotion.

Santoka's life embodies the Zen spirit in three ways. First, since his life and poetry were one, he represents the ideal of "no duplicity." In any art or discipline it is essential to unify thought, speech, and action. Second, he did not mimic anyone else. This is rare in any society. In Japan, the life of a wandering poet is considered the most impermanent, irregular, and individualistic of all occupations. It is a life of freedom from everything: material possessions, mental con

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cepts, social norms. Third is Santoka's simplicity of expression. In his verses there is nothing extra, no pretense, no artificiality. They can be understood at once without analysis. Sharp and direct, Santoka's haiku epitomize Zen writing: pure experience, free of intellectual coloring.

Santoka's appeal is not limited to Japan. Haiku and Zen practice are established throughout the world. As a man of the twentieth century, Santoka is close to us in thought and temperament. Fortunately, his haiku lose little in translation, so with the publication of this collection of his poems, people of all countries will now be able to share in his unique "journey into the depths of the human heart."

Shoichi Taneda--now better known as Santoka--was born in the village of Sabare in the Hofu district of Yamaguchi Prefecture on December 3, 1882. His father, a large and impressive figure, was a landowner and active in local politics but not very good at running his business or personal affairs. Shoichi was the second child, first boy, and one more sister and two more brothers were born in the next few years.

Shoichi was good at his studies and displayed an interest in literature as early as elementary school. Unfortunately, his father was a dissolute womanizer who carried on with several mistresses at a time. When he wasn't playing with the ladies he was politicking, so he was rarely home. While he was vacationing in the mountains with one of his mistresses, his wife committed suicide by throwing herself into a well on the family property. She was thirty-three years old. Shoichi, just eleven at the time, never completely recovered from the shock of seeing his mother's lifeless body being lifted from the well, and this tragic event affected him throughout his life. Afterwards he was raised by his grandmother.

In 1896 he entered middle school and began to write traditional-style haiku. In 1902 he enrolled in the literature de

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partment of Waseda University in Tokyo. There, following the custom, he took a pen name; from then on he called himself Santoka ("Burning Mountain Peak"). He began to drink heavily, suffered a nervous breakdown, and was unable to complete the first-year requirements. In addition, his father was in financial straits and could no longer afford the tuition, so Santoka had to return home.

Santoka arrived in his home town in July 1904 at the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. His father sold off some of the family land and purchased a sak brewery that he opened with Santoka in 1907. Two years later, at the insistence of his father, who thought a wife might help cut down Santoka's drinking, an arranged marriage took place with Sakino Sato, a pretty girl from a neighboring village. However, the union was troubled right from the beginning, and Santoka never adjusted to married life. The following year their only child, Ken, was born.