image of soft, old thing, and fragile. In this fragility blossom dust still fertilize the cherry tree. In the fragility of blossom dust, it still has its function, that is
fertilizing the brand new cherry trees. In Basho’s cherry trees poem, Basho
employs tactile imagery the soft blossom dust. All the Basho’s poem in this thesis employs visual imagery. There are
three poems uses auditory imagery, which are the frog poem, the stormy sea poem, and the poem of the cicada’s cry. Two Basho’s poem employs tactile
imagery, which are poem of the dragonfly and the cherry trees poem. The imageries of those six haiku are concerning nature image.
Basho pictured nature as well as recorded the sound of the nature. This imagery of nature based on the cultural ground of the religious society, and the
relation between the nature and the culture.
B. Metaphors in the Basho’s haiku
1. Ontological metaphors in Basho’s haiku
Basho uses ordinary language to portray events. Most of events are natural
events, or natural process. The poem is the natural process in Japan. According to Lakoff, the experiences with physical objects provide the basis for an
extraordinarily wide variety of ontological metaphors, that is viewing events, emotions, ideas, as subtances 2003: 25.
1.1 Ontological Metaphors in Basho’s frog poem
Basho’s frog poem describes a moment when the frog jumps into the pond. This moment that happen once and only, done in a strike and then disappear. The
fast ‘plup’ sound is an imagery that would be imagined as the water sound.
Metaphorically, the haiku has its meaning in the tranquillity and the surprising sudden splash of the water. According to Lakoff, Ontological
Metaphors are often based on concepts in experience of culture 2003: 25. Basho wrote the nature things as a daily scenery in Japan. It also categorized as a nature
metaphor since Basho wrote his poem based on spiritual concept of unity with nature. Bahmill, 2004: xii.
Like the water that never blocks things is the metaphor the mind. Mind never grasps a thing and always reflects every things, while mind also does the
same thing. In the Buddhist experience, the nature of the mind is reflecting and ungraspable, just like water Suzuki, 1988: 7. The mind is reflecting every human
experience. For a Japanese like Basho, water is intimately related with life. Japanese people see water as the most essential part of life, the source of things,
like the mind as the source of things. For Japanese, water and mind are very closely related. This Japanese intimacy toward nature is the base concept of
Basho’s life that unites with nature. In Zen mind every natural things represents wisdom and spirituality Suzuki, 1988: 375. According to Lakoff, ordinary words
used in daily life is metaphorically in nature 2003: 7.
1.2. Ontological
Metaphors in Basho’s poem of the prostitutes
Prostitutes are humans that change in their life time. Prostitutes are humans that can not live forever. Since humans cannot live forever it is
considered impermanent. So that, The prostitutes and the bush clover are the metaphor of the impermanent.
