Basho did work under another pen name as an apprentice writer, but did
his mature work under the name we know him by. He did not work under
multiple pen names. No, he took his pen-name from the banana tree,
which a friend had given him, because of the legendary toughness of the
plant and not because he wanted to be known as "Mr. Banana". In fact,
to call someone Mr., Ms. Miss or Mrs. in Japanese one appends Sama
(formal) or San (less formal) to the family name. Yes, you can read
Japanese from right to left, from left to right (in traditional Japanese
style) and from top to bottom--usually proceeding from left to right.
Japanese doesn't have syllables but "on." Each "on" is given equal
stress and is counted in haiku to make the 5/7/5 pattern. Hokku was the
traditional 5/7/5 beginning of a renga. Basho liberated the hokku to
create haiku. Jesse
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