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Many poems in the tradition of Japanese haiku appear to exhibit what John Ruskin named "the pathetic fallacy." A proper understanding of the philosophical framework within which these poems were created will show that this charge is unfounded because it relies on an overly stark separation of perceiving subject and perceived object.
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Oku no Hosomichi ..., or The Narrow Road to Oku, is the most famous work of Japan's most famous poet, Matsuo Bash...(1644-1694). It is an embellished travel diary, written in 1689, based on a journey he and his disciple Sora undertook from Edo through the deep interior of Japan. One of its best-known verses is the first of its travel poems: ...Yuku haru ya / tori naki uo no / me wa namida Spring is passing by! / Birds are weeping and the eyes / Of fish fill with tears" (Keene 23).
This poem is emblematic of Basho's style in its expression of the resonance between the poet and the natural world, but from a certain aesthetic point of view, one may question whether its beauty is marred by an over-indulgence of the pathetic fallacy. That is, Basho appears to be projecting his own feelings onto nature instead of respectfully describing it in its otherness.
Formally speaking, the poem consists of two parts divided by the cutting word ya. In the first, the poet invokes the passing spring. Earlier Japanese poets had created an association between grief over the changing of the seasons and the crying of birds (Kawamoto 84-85). In the second part of the poem, we are given a concrete image of spring's passing that relies on this association.1 In Japanese, both the singing of birds and the mourning of humans is called naki (crying), and Basho has played up this ambiguity by writing naki with the character ..., which can have either meaning, rather than using ..., which specifically means mourning, or..., which specifically means birdsong. Within the narrative context of The Narrow Road to Oku, we form a mental picture of Basho as he and his disciple leave to begin their long journey. Basho explains: "I set out after composing this verse, the first of my journey, but I could barely keeping...