not about reducing ideas into component parts, the idea and meaning is in the relationship between the particles, not in the definition of the particles. instead of a dot, line and form, it would be equally valid to have any collection of shapes or objects. it is the relationship between the graphical elements and what they represent that defines the symbol. it would be as valid to use completely randomly generated forms to represent a haiku, since we cannot escape patterns (there is a paradox in all of this…)

in the symbols for this picture, the patterns that naturally happened were:

the dot most often represented the bird (or the essence of a bird, an idealised state, a viewpoint…)

the line represented the environment, the weather, the landscape, the call of the bird, the idea of a signal being sent, the process…

the form (closed shape) represented the object; the house, the boat, the person

in some symbols the dot is a point of view, in others it is the focus. the dot is often the soul and physical body of the bird, condensed into a point. i can’t help identifying with this dot, which makes it unclear whether i am describing a bird or myself in relation to these scenes that Basho describes. the beauty of these haiku is that they are at the same time specific, moments, and also generic, timeless and placeless. because of this it is easy to imagine being a bird…

in some symbols the line is a mountain slope, or a trajectory flowing from high to low, or a sense of movement, a sound wave, a wave on water, a path. also a sensed path, from hot to cold, light to dark…

in some symbols the closed form is an object (house, rock, boat), in others it is a living thing (person). in between these 2 states it is also a nest, an enclosing space, warmth, but always receding

notes (dec 2008)

the colour grid represents the opposing states / processes of life and death:

red blue

hot cold

gaseous solid

burning freezing

energy inert

in the middle region, these 2 forces combine to produce life (green). it is on this region where life and death meet that the bird nest rests

the bird’s nest is empty except for a single feather, which represents the fundamental element of the bird. it is also represents the remains of the missing/dead bird

the bird’s nest (a found object) is like an empty house, it no longer serves it’s original purpose. how it got to this state is unknown, perhaps it was simply blown out of a tree by the wind. it is also not known if when this happened it had already been discarded or was in use

it is not purposeless however, because it serves an alchemical function

the tiny lines drawn on the image are swarming patterns, derived from photographs of Swallows and Starlings (?). they reconcile the individual with the group, and the group with nature, in terms of order and chaos

the text is a collection of 78 haiku by Basho that refer directly to birds. collectively they therefore describe the relationship between the bird and nature, as observed by Basho

the haiku are the life that is absent from the nest

they are arranged in a grid, as if a particle lattice structure. they form a mesh, a net, an environment, enclosing, wrapping, the bird nest. they are memories of the nest and it’s builder, abstracted so as to contain the essence of the bird

each haiku is represented in 3 parts:

the original Japanese

the literal English translation

an intuitive symbol composed of 3 elements; dot, line and form

each element has a position, relative to the other elements each element might have a shape / size dimension. also colour / shade all these aspects might map from the meaning of each part of the haiku, or the whole. each element in it’s pure ideal form (e.g. dot, straight line, or circle) might also be associated with a segment of the haiku (e.g. a single word, a 5-7-5 segment, a word pair etc)

produce a series of matrices of the possible mappings but the final product will need to be an intuitive expression

properties and transformations

how the dot, line and form elements show themselves individually

how they are expressed as a variation of their fundamental, pure definition

the structure and composition of the haiku:

• elements of the haiku, words, objects and places described, mapped to dot, line or form
• the atomic structure of the elements

relation between symbols

how the dot, line and form elements are shown in relation to each other,

how they appear as a group, read as a composite symbol

the overall intuitive sense of the haiku:

• movement and change
• environment, place and feeling
• change and place in time

sense	time	tense	space	primary element
static	still outside of time	past	flatfieldearth	dot
separating fragmenting	infinite	future	openskysea	line
closeness coming together	a single moment	present	cave shelterhome	form

relationship between symbols and groups – perhaps they exert an influence on each other, like a magnetic field perhaps the grid exerts an influence on the formation of groups, like a gravitational field, rather than being a passive background

selected haiku

216 a winter peony232 the sea darkens 233 a wandering crow 238 a world of fragrance 239 white blossoms 245 at a kale farm 257 a bird catcher also 268 cherry flowers bloom 277 cold water	475 hackberries falling488 for what 493 a skylark sings 497 spring departing 504 cuckoo 507 in a barley field 509 a crane calls 510 even woodpeckers 511 across the field	729 good for nothing752 the hawk’s eye also 774 wild geese honking 775 fish or bird 776 was it a bush warbler 784 the cuckoo 788 cuckoo 814 carolers 823 crane feathers
288 a stork’s nest289 in a stork’s nest 295 playing on flowers 299 cuckoo 304 even a long day 305 in the middle of a field 306 summer rain 313 mid-harvest 330 look into	512 is it falling down?517 border guard 554 low tide crossing 561 the voice of a dove 643 bush warbler 645 daybreak 654 oranges 658 even in kyoto 680 by the panulownia tree	826 cuckoo827 one cry 874 a feather-down robe 875 a peddler’s 881 parsley baked duck 891 baby sparrows 907 bush warbler 913 butterflies and birds 920 hiding himself
335 cape irago336 more reassuring 337 a single hawk 365 wine cup 405 the cuckoo 413 suma’s fishermen’s 433 exciting 437 already harvested 439 what a good house	682 a sick goose695 building a bridge 696 usually hateful 700 disappeared 702 plovers fly away 720 a cuckoo 721 day after day 724 rice paddy sparrows 726 already sad	931 a bush warbler940 squid vendor 950 fallen blossoms 989 cockscomb 993 the sun covered 1007 this autumn

many thanks to Jane Reichhold and Kodansha International for permission to use text from Basho: The Complete Haiku (2008)

© Michael Davies, 2010.10