I was very fortunate to meet and interview her at her house in Tokyo in 1985, and even though it was only once, her presence and words resonated in my bones. Her haiku style was not of the avant garde, as some other women poets, but rather expressive of a quieter inner life. At the same time, she had to deal with sexism in the Japanese haiku world where women haiku poets were often regarded as second class, and their haiku often dismissed as mere “kitchen haiku” and therefore of less value however, her lifelong writing, teaching and advocacy, helped change this misperception. Her life was totally devoted in every aspect to haiku. She not only studied with Takahama Kyoshi (the main disciple of the ‘father of modern haiku’ Masaoka Shiki), and was a member of his Hototogisu (Cuckoo) group, but she later created her own movement of women’s haiku, having her own group Kazahana (Snow Flowers in Wind) and magazine her main collections include Teijo Haiku Collection ( Teijo Kushu, 1944) and Flower Shadow Collection ( Hana Kage: Nakamura Teijo Kushu, 1948). Teijo was one of the greatest of the modern women haiku masters in Japan, known as one of the four ’T’’s (along with Takako Hashimoto, Tatsuko Hoshino and Takajo Mitsuhashi). Oi no kokoro miru hi no nagaki botan kana
Ha mo chiri mo hitotsu utena ya yuki no hana Mikazuki ni hishihishi to mono no shizumarinuīeni saita kuchi mo wasururu shimizu kana (All haiku translated by Patricia Donegan & Yoshie Ishibashi (5-7-5 syllable count in the original Japanese open-ended in translation)). As the years passed while doing further co-translations of her haiku, I gained an awakening insight into the depth & potential of haiku in general: the absolute kitchen-sink ordinariness of it, yet at the same time its luminous extraordinariness, co-emerging naturally when we are immersed in the present moment. And it was also rare for a woman of her time to publish two collections of her own poetry in her lifetime: Chiyo-ni Kushu ( Chiyo-ni’s Haiku Collection, 1764) and Haikai Matsu no Koe (Haiku: Sound of the Pine, 1771).Īnd when visiting her museum & temple in her hometown of Matto city of Japan on several occasions, I felt as if enveloped in her living haiku spirit & lineage. While there were and still are very few Japanese women haiku poets translated into English, it was Chiyo-ni’s life that so inspired me, to co-translate with Yoshie Ishibashi, the first book in English on a woman haiku master’s life and haiku, Chiyo-ni Woman Haiku Master (Tuttle, 1990). One can better know the universe through each thing in phenomena, as in Chiyo-ni’s haiku, than through books.” Chiyo-ni knows the Way, is in harmony with Nature. She is like a small pine, embodying a female style that is subtle, fresh, and beautiful. She lives simply as if with a stone for a pillow, and spring water to brush her teeth. Both her life and her writing style are clear & pure. “Chiyo-ni’s style is pure like white jade, without ornament, without carving, natural. In fact, the haiku poet Shōin, who wrote the preface to her collection Chiyo-ni Kushu (1764), said of her way of life: In the Edo era (1603 – 1867) when women barely had any rights, she embraced haiku as her path, studying with two of Bashō’s disciples, & becoming a famous haiku master, artist and Buddhist nun, following what Bashō called haikai no michi (the way of haiku). I choose these four women haiku poets especially because they all had one important thing in common: they were/are an example of “living the Way of Haiku” in their everyday life - which is what, for me, sets haiku apart from other genres of literature - whether I’ve studied, taught or written haiku, I always approached & advocated it as an awareness practice for daily life.
These women haiku poets touched me deeply:
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