Temple Bells Die Out (Critical Overview)

Critical Overview

Critics agree that Bashō is primarily responsible for developing the modern style of haiku. Some scholars, like Makoto Ueda in his Matsuo Bashō, claim that Matsuo Bashō is the greatest haiku writer. In Japanese Literature, Roger Bersihand writes that Bashō "made the entertaining epigram into delicate poetry, which suggests rather than expresses an idea, using simple, evocative touches under which is often a profound symbolism." However, critics agree that Matsuo Bashō developed his style of poetry throughout his adult years and that his later poetry is notably superior to his earlier efforts.

Critics note two distinct characteristics of poems like "Temple Bells Die Out" which were written between 1686 – 1691, generally considered the period during which Matsuo Bashō wrote his best haiku. First, Matsuo Bashō developed the idea of sabi or loneliness in his poems. Matsuo Bashō's poems are not crowded with descriptions of people and urban life. Rather, they center on the relationship of some small aspect of nature to the larger whole. As Makoto Ueda states in his Matsuo Bashō: "[t]o realize that all living things are evanescent is sad, but when one sees a tiny creature enduring that sadness and fulfilling its destiny one is struck with a sublime feeling." This is the mood that Matsuo Bashō is attempting to portray. Secondly, critics note Matsuo Bashō's propensity and talent for depicting two dissimilar objects in contrast. And yet, as Makoto Ueda points out in the same book, there is "an implied communication" between the objects in "Temple Bells Die Out." Only through the comparison which forces the reader to reconsider the nature and relationship of the objects is the "hidden interrelatedness" discovered.

Compare & Contrast

• Seventeeth Century: Japan bans foreign books and isolates itself from the rest of the world.
  Today: Japan is an economic world power, and Tokyo is a cosmopolitan city.
• Seventeeth Century: Tokugawa Ieyasu is the most powerful man in Japan and in 1603 is appointed Shogun by the emperor. He establishes his military government in Edo (Tokyo), and Tokugawa shoguns rule Japan for more than 250 years.
  Today: Japan has a representative democracy, but its government is dominated by one party — the Liberal Democratic Party.
• Seventeeth Century: The Tokugawa shogunate oppresses Western religions.
  Today: Western religions are practiced in Japan, which has developed a society tolerant of many belief systems.
• Seventeeth Century: Buddhism is practiced throughout Japan, but is little known in the West.
  Today: Buddhism is becoming increasingly popular in western countries such as the United States, as an increasing number of people seek an alternative religion.