yuugen 幽玄 Yugen
"We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the middle and knows."
—Robert Frost
How very true, Robert san!
Reading about Yugen will give the reader an idea, but not the full reality of it.
Just like reading about food will give you an idea, but your stomach will still be empty. Reading a translation will not give you the real ... depth, truth, beauty, words fail me here ... of a Japansee haiku.
Being exposed to Japanese culture on a daily level for 30 years, still, the concept of yuugen is far from grasped.
Yugen is a difficult concept.
In Higginson's "The Haiku Handbook," he says:
Several whole volumes in Japanese are devoted to this word, particularly in relation to the 'noo' drama.
The entry in Wikipedia:
Yūgen is an important concept in traditional Japanese aesthetics.
The exact translation of the word depends on the context. In the Chinese philosophical texts the term was taken from, yuugen meant "dim", "deep" or "mysterious".
In the criticism of Japanese waka poetry, it was used to describe the subtle profundity of things that are only vaguely suggested by the poems, and was also the name of a style of poetry (one of the ten orthodox styles delineated by Fujiwara no Teika in his treatises).
Ambiguity and yugen (depth and mystery) are wonderful tools.
Most good haiku have more than one level of meaning.
Take for example, this haiku by Basho:
an octopus pot ---
inside, a short-lived dream
under the summer moon
What one person perceives as clear may not be clear to another with a different cultural memory and social context.
A haiku friend answered.
.............................................
These octopus pots are quite common for fishing in our area in the Seto Inland sea. In some parts, the coast is littered, so to speak, with the bones and souls of warriors from the Genpei war and others.
This haiku by Basho is rather clear. It is not a riddle to me, but full of cultural allusions and information. It also reminds of the haiku about the dreams of ancient warriors in the summer grass of Hiraizumi.
summer grass:
all that remains
of warrior's dreams
Maybe our problem with the haiku riddles result from our different cultures where we originate?
Yugen (yuugen 幽玄) is part of many arts of Japan, not only haiku. It is part of the aesthetic aspect of many things here. Especially in the Noh Theater, we see a lot of yugen but that is not identical with riddle, it is much more subtle than that and involves a lot of the common cultural understanding of a man of letters (bunjin 文人), reaching back to ancient China and its early influence on Japan.
In the treatises on the Noh theatre by Zeami Motokiyo it refers to the grace and elegance of the dress and behaviour of court ladies.
... ... ...
Joan Giroux, in "The Haiku Form" :
It is expressed in art, especially in the Noh drama, by an effortless artistry which is achieved when the essence, the core of the action or thing to be expressed, is reached, and the consequent expression, as a result, reflects the deepest, most profound meaning.
The more the art of haiku or Noh is mastered, the greater the likelihood of expressing 'yugen'; likewise, the more an experiencer understands the art, the greater the possibility of experiencing 'yugen' in a work of art.
[http://wkdhaikutopics.blogspot.com/2007/03/yugen-yuugen.html]
Courtesy of Gabi Greve
[Photos are my own]