Chiyo-ni
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Chiyo-ni (Kaga no Chiyo) (千代尼; 1703 - 2 October 1775) was a Japanese poet of the Edo period, widely regarded as one of the greatest female haiku poets.
Born in Matto, Kaga Province (now Hakusan, Ishikawa Prefecture) as a daughter of a picture framer, she began writing haiku poetry aged 7. At age 12, she became the disciple of the great poet Matsuo Bashō, and by the age of 17, she had become very popular all over Japan for her poetry. Her poems, although mostly dealing with nature, work for a unity of nature with humanity. Her own life was that of the haikai poets who made their lives and the world they lived in one with themselves.
Chiyo-ni's teachers were the students of Bashō, and she stayed true to his style, although she did develop on her own as an independent figure. Today, the morning glory is a favorite flower for the people of her home town, because she left a number of poems on that flower.
She is perhaps best known for this haiku:
A morning glory.
Twined round the bucket:
I will ask my neighbor for water.
Shokouji temple in Hakusan contains a display of her personal effects.
The American rock band Red House Painters borrowed from one of her haiku for the chorus of their song "Dragonflies".
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- O Mabson Southard and Chiyo-ni: Masters of Buddhist Tradition by Brock Peoples at Millikin University
- Pamela Miller Ness and Chiyo-ni: A Comparison of Two Women Haiku Authors by Joan Leach at Millikin University
- The Wasi of ChiyoNi Ishi at ancientworlds.com
- Chiyo-ni's Haiku Style Excerpts from Chiyo-ni: Woman Haiku Master, by Patricia Donegan, in Simply Haiku
