Iga Manko

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Iga Manko 伊賀万乎（まんこ）

In some translations his name is given as Banko.
The first Chinese character of his name,
万, can be read MAN or BAN.

? - 1724, August 15
生年不詳 - 1724年（享保9年）8月15日）

His name was Osakaya Jiroo Tayu (Jiro-dayu, Jiroodaiu)
大坂屋次郎大夫
He was a rich merchant in Iga Ueno.

In 1691 on the 23 of the third lunar month he had a blossom viewing party in his estate, where Matsuo Basho was present as the guest of honor.
伊賀万乎亭(ﾏﾝｺﾃｲ)で花見 Iga Manko Tei de Hanami


Iga Manko was one of the students of Matsuo Basho.
Iga Shoomon 伊賀蕉門 Basho students of Iga province.


伊賀蕉門の研究と資料 Study of the Iga Shomon Group
source :　mozubooks.com


An account about Basho's visit to the Manko-Tei estate:
quote
大坂屋次郎太夫宛書簡
昨日は御手がみ忝致二拝見一候。並御発句*。脇句その二三申上候*。静々留置候。吟味、加筆可レ致候*。仍而今夕御催可レ被レ成旨珎重に存候へ共*、頃日夜をふかし候事相つヾき、少々いたみ腹、味も損申候間、二三日過而御催可レ被レ成候。為二御断一如レ此御座候。其内期二貴面一可レ得二御意一候*。以上
八朔
　大坂屋次郎大夫様　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
はせを 　　　　　　　　
source : www2.yamanashi-ken.ac.jp


. . . . .

Others with the name of IGA in the Sarumino collection are

伊賀土芳 Iga Tohoo (1657 - 1730), Hattori Dohoo
伊賀探丸 Iga Tangan (son of Sengin Toodoo Yoshitada)
伊賀一桐 Iga Ittoo
伊賀猿雖 Iga Ensui (1640 - 1704)
伊賀蝉吟 Iga Sengin (1642 - 1666)

Igashuu 伊賀衆 the Poets from Iga (active around 1698 - 1733)


Other than in Sarumino, Manko's poems are also found in

Sumidawara 炭俵　(1694)


. Reference .


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Three haiku from the Sarumino 猿蓑 and
Zoku-Sarumino 続猿蓑 collection:


田の畝の豆つたひ行蛍かな　　　　　　　(猿蓑)

更る夜や稲こく家の笑聲　　　　　　　　(続猿蓑)
涼しさよ牛の尾振て川の中　　　　　　(続猿蓑)


田の畝の豆つたひ行蛍かな
たのうねのまめつたいゆくほたるかな
ta no une no mame tsutai yuku hotaru kana

「畝」は「畦」の誤記であろう。農家では、しばしば田の畦道に大豆を植えたものである。蛍は、この枝豆を食べたくて畦伝いに飛んでいるのであろう、という身もふたも無い句。
une is maybe a spelling mistake of the kanji for aze.
Farmers planted edamame beans along the aze paths of the rice paddies. And the fireflies came along to eat the beans.
source :　www2.yamanashi-ken.ac.jp

(Keene reads this as heri, Blyth as aze.)
. . . . .


田の畝の豆つたひ行螢かな
ta no heri no mame tsutai yuku hotaru kana

Along the border of the fields
Following the bean plants
Go the fireflies.

Banko
[Tr. Donald Keene]

Kyorai writes:
This verse was originally one by Boncho that the Master [Basho] had corrected. When we were compiling 'The Monkey's Cloak', Boncho remarked, "This verse has nothing special to recommend it. Let's leave it out." Kyorai answered, "The lights of the fireflies following the bean plants at the edge of a field splendidly evoke a dark night."

But Boncho was not convinced by these words. The Master said, "If Boncho throws it away, I'll pick it up. It fortunately happens that one of the Iga poets has a similar verse that I can modify into this one." Thus, it finally appeared as Banko's poem.
[end of excerpt]

Hass's note:
Iga was Basho's home district, and he took a special interest in its poets.
[end of note]

. Fireflies of Seta and Haiku



ta no une no mame tsutaiyuku hotaru kana

On the ridge between fields
proceeding along the bean plants
the lights of fireflies
Tr. Earl Miner and Hiroko Odagiri

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. Compiled by Larry Bole:

Blyth describes him as:
"Banko, who died in 1724, was a man of Iga, Basho's home town, and a disciple of Basho."

Blyth translates one of Banko's haiku in this entry, the same one mentioned in Kyorai's "Conversations with Basho":

ta no aze no mame tsutaiyuku hotaru kana

The fireflies
Thread the beans of the path
Through the rice-field.
Banko, Tr. Blyth

. . . . .

And Blyth translates one of Banko's haiku, also about a firefly,
in vol. 3 of "Haiku", in the entry on "Fireflies":

te no hira wo hau ashi miyuru hotaru kana

The fire-fly;
As it crawls on my palm,
Its legs are visible.
Banko, Tr. Blyth




More online references about Banko:

In an essay by Cor van den Heuvel, in Modern Haiku (vol. 33.2, Summer 2002), titled
"Lafcadio Hearn and Haiku," van den Heuvel compares translations by Blyth and Hearn of the Banko haiku immediately above. Here is Hearn's translation (it's not clear which book of Hearn's it's from):

Oh, this firefly! as it crawls on the palm of my
hand, its legs are visible [by its own light]!


Robin Gill, in his book,
"Rise, ye sea slugs" (from google books online) has a haiku by 'Banko', but the haiku is dated 1777, so either it's a different Banko,
or else the date is wrong.

kosori au samusa mo oke no namako kana --
Banko (1777)

what a cold
'tete-a-tete': sea slugs
in a bucket


we meet
like sea slugs in a tub
of cold water
Tr. Gill, both versions


Unfortunately, Lenore Mayhew, in her translation of "Monkey's Raincoat," only translates a small selection of the independent 'hokku', which doesn't include any by Banko.

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More haiku by Manko

万乎 まんこ
（～享保9年（1724）8月15日）
伊賀蕉門の一人。伊賀上野の豪商大坂屋次郎大夫。 米と金銀の交換を業とした金融業者。倉庫業も営む。「猿蓑」・「有磯海」・「笈日記」に作品が収められている。元禄4年3月23日、自邸に芭蕉を招待し、その折に入門。

田の畝の豆つたひ行螢かな　　（『猿蓑』 『去来抄』）

煤拂せうじをはくは手代かな　　（『炭俵』）

あたらしき翠簾まだ寒し梅花　　（『續猿蓑』）

小米花奈良のはづれや鍛冶が家　　（『續猿蓑』）

李盛る見世のほこりの暑哉　　（『續猿蓑』）

枯のぼる葉は物うしや鶏頭花　　（『續猿蓑』）

更る夜や稲こく家の笑聲　　（『續猿蓑』）

大年や親子たはらの指荷ひ　　（『續猿蓑』）

source : www2.yamanashi-ken.ac.jp


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"The Monkey's Straw Raincoat"
Earl Miner and Hiroko Odagiri

In 'The Monkey's Straw Raincoat'... there appear 118 poets, or 119 if Shinken is counted for his Chinese verse. Of them, 113 were still alive at the time of the compilation. In this respect (as Joosoo's postcript implies), we must think of that collection as one of people then alive who were of the Basho school. (The five who had died had done so only recently, so that they represent only a seeming exception.)

The hokku section of 'The Monkey's Straw Raincoat' has 382 stanzas. Two poets appear much the most often: Boncho with forty-one stanzas and Basho with forty. Next come Kikaku and Kyorai with twenty-five each. Poets with between ten and fifteen stanzas include: Shoohaku (14); Fumikuni (13); Joosoo, Sora, and Ukoo (12); and Ranran (10). Those with four to nine stanzas are: Senna, Hanzan, Otokuni, Dohoo (also Tohoo), Chinseki, Ransetsu, Sampu, Chigetsu, Tangan, and Bokusetsu (in decreasing order of frequency).

Some seventy-one poets are represented by only one stanza in the whole of 'The Monkey's Straw Raincoat'. From the hokku collection, eleven are known solely for having one stanza and for nothing more (including place of origin, etc.)

One of the features of this collection is the presence of six women poets. The most important is Ukoo (her husband is Boncho who, as we have seen, was the most fully represented of the men). Chigetsu is also represented among those who appear with some frequency. In addition there are: Chine (Kyorai's sister, who had died), Ooshuu, Sen, and Tagami no Ama (or the nun Tagami).

It is particularly telling that upwards of twenty percent of the poets (18 of 118) are substantially unknown. (The Autumn hokku begin with a poet labeled "Anonymous," but that may be a joke.) Poets who were important enough to participate in the kasen are of course better known. But in the hokku section of 'The Monkey's Straw Raincoat', seven are wholly unknown otherwise (Choowa, Genshi, Ranko, Ransui, Ryuuin, Sooji, Yoosui).

Five are known simply as being from Edo (Ensui, though not the famous one, Kakoo, Keiseki, Sansen, Zenhoo), another five as being from Iga (Choobi, Ichitan, Juntaku, Risetsu, Sekikoo), and four from Zeze (Bokusui, Deido, Senso, Shiyuu). There is one from Owari (Kaikyoo) and another from Mikawa (Shiin). Given the problems with reading pen names, it will be clear that it is particularly difficult to make certain [of] the names of these obscure people. In social terms, it is more significant still that so many people were included whom history has cast into obscurity as being of no consequence.

Other collections of the seven thought canonical for Basho-style haikai would give a somewhat different cross-section of the society of the time, although the differences would not be extreme. There might be fewer people otherwise unknown and fewer women. But the earlier generalization would still hold: the poets are mostly of middling social origins and more of low than of higher rank. It was people such as these who contributed to make their generation one of the great periods of Japanese poetry.


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Japanese Reference

. 伊賀万乎



BTW
manko まんこ is a Japanese word for the female genitals, often translated as cunt or pussy.
This word was sort of "unspeakable" in the Kanto region, but not so much in Osaka.


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Related words

. Basho jittetsu 芭蕉十哲
10 great and most important disciples of Basho


***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　


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