Furuike ya Old pond,
kawazu tobikomu Mr. Frog leaps in –
mizu no oto Water plop!

Matsuo Basho

This is a Haiku by the old Master Matsuo Basho. And the following text is one of the – so far – best interpretations of this Haiku I have ever read. It is from Robin Fujikawa and I found it on this website.

«This can be appreciated as a nice poem about pond, frog, and sound of water that describe a pretty scene. Viewed in this way, we can correctly understand that Basho is a Japanese or Asian thinker who is typically nature-loving, enigmatic, and deep. This confirms our stereotype of the Japanese as inscrutable and contemplative. This way of reading the poem is reassuring, but when we bring stereotypes of frog, pond, and the Japanese to an experience, we only confirm our set of images and miss Mr. Frog and the living world entirely.

However, there is another way. Rather than as an arrangement of images about stereotyped things, this might be read as a poem that expresses a mind that is clear of stereotypes. Becoming clear of stereotypes is not easy, for words are stereotypes and it is difficult to think without words or to write poetry without words. Here, Basho's haiku is helpful, for it demonstrates how the world looks when mind is clear, and once we see this, we can see how his words are not functioning as ordinary words and how his resulting haiku is indeed creative.

First, let us meet Mr. Frog. Mr. Frog is not merely a frog, for being a frog does not make someone Mr. Frog. Even the name Mr. Frog is misleading, for though the name may remain the same in appearance, the real face of Mr. Frog is always changing, unique to the moment, and always revealing a boundary-less identity with the world of pond and summertime events. Mr. Frog is this very frog, unique and very quick. We thus need to think of all names and words as unique to each moment even though they may have the appearance of being the same.

Back to the haiku, see how old pond is not any old pond, it is Mr.-Frog-disappearing-plop old pond. Catch this living old pond, and you will have mind clear of stereotypes and words. So what happens when the mind is clear? This is Basho's answer: you meet the living world with its vivacity, elusive uniqueness, leaping freshness, and playful mischief. Look for this answer in his haiku. It is worth remembering that his living world is not the nature that is made into a thing by our mind that wants to understand and love it. Look for the Asian mind in the living world, not in our stereotypes of it. In doing so, you will find your own clear mind.

By Robin Fujikawa»