The Influence of Tu Fu on BashōFumiko Fujikawa

Excerpt

Scholars have occasionally pointed out the thematic similarities in the works of Tu Fu (712-770) and Bashō (1644-1694), but most of these scholars maintain that no great significance can be attached to these similarities. Tu Fu and Bashō were of characters; they lived in periods remote from each other; they differed in their philosophical backgrounds and in their conceptions of poetry. In Dr. Kurokawa’s words, “. . .the works of the two poets were significantly different in essence…. It is quite difficult to trace in Bashō’s haikai the influence of Tu Fu’s classical poems, which are usually concerned with social phenomena ….” It would thus seem highly unlikely for Bashō to have been truly influenced by this greatest of Chinese poets, Tu Fu.

While there is considerable truth in this analysis, a study of Bashō’s works presents to me a somewhat different picture. In short, it suggests that critics have not fully appreciated the profound inspiration Bashō found in the poetry of Tu Fu. The following examination of Bashō’s indebtedness to Tu Fu will be developed in terms of verse, of phrases and imagery, and of comments of the poet’s own. The analysis will follow, as far as possible, a chronological order, starting with the year 1680 when Bashō was already a recognized poet.