There might be some problems with these because I'm taking them out of context. These are more or less notes to myself about their general meaning rather than 100% reliable translations. I'm just thinking about how the Bashô school describes poetic work.
- 俳諧といへども風雅の一筋なれば姿かたちいやしく作りなすべからず。
Though it be called haikai, it is on a continuum with everything artistic, so you should compose it in a way that is vulgar neither in content nor in form.
- Bashô, cited in Mukai Kyorai's 向井去来 Tabine ron 旅寝論
- 詩・歌・連・俳はともに風雅なり。上三つのものには余す所もあり。その余す所まで俳はいたらずといふ所なし。
Poetry in Chinese, waka, renga, and haikai are all artistic forms of expression. The first three have left areas unexplored. Of those unexplored areas, none may be called unreachable by haikai.Read more >>
- Dohô 土芳, in Sanzôshi 三冊子.
- 乾坤の変は風雅の種なり。
It is the transformations of the natural world that are the source materials for art.
- Bashô, cited in Sanzôshi.
- 俳諧といふに三あるべし。華月の風流は風雅の躰也。をかしきは俳諧の名にして、淋しきは風雅の実なり。この三の物に及ばざれば、世俗のただ言となりぬべし。
There are three things that are essential in haikai. The vicissitudes of the seasons are the shape of its art. Humor gives haikai its name, and sadness is the truth of its art. If it doesn't achieve all three of these essentials, it's probably nothing more than a trite saying.
- Kagami Shikô 各務支考 in Zoku Goron 続五論
- 旅は風雅の花、風雅は過客の魂。 西行・宗祇の見残しは、皆俳諧の情なり。
Travel is the flowering of art, art is the spirit of the traveler. What was overlooked by Saigyô and Sôgi all serves as the emotional content of haikai.
- Kyoriku 許六, in Infutaki 韻塞
- 高く心を悟りて、俗に帰るべし。
Appreciate the essence of the sublime, but return to the everyday.
- Bashô, cited in Sanzôshi
- 西行の和歌における、宗祇の連歌における、雪舟の絵における、利休の茶における、その貫道するものは一つなり。しかも風雅におけるもの、造化にしたがひて四時を友とす。見るところ花にあらずといふことなし。思ふところ月にあらずといふことなし。
The same thing runs straight through the waka of Saigyô, Sôgi's renga, Sesshu's painting, and Rikyû's tea. And the thing within haikai is to be in accord with creation and as a friend to the seasons. There is nowhere to look that is not in bloom. There is nothing to be thought that is not brilliant as with moonlight.
- Bashô, in Oi no kobumi 笈の小文
- 風雅に理屈なし。理屈はおのれがおのれが心の理屈なり。
In art there is no logic. As for logic, there is a logic within each of our hearts.
- Kagami Shikô 各務支考 in Tôzai yawa 東西夜話
All of these phrases are explained in detail in Yamashita Kazumi's 山下一海 Bashô hyaku meigen 芭蕉百名言 (角川書店, 2010).
Here's one more. I don't think it was in Yamashita's book:
- 余が風雅は夏炉冬扇のごとし、衆にさからひて用いるところなし
My art is like a hearth in the summer or a fan in the winter; it goes counter to the group and is without usefulness.
- Bashô, Kyoriku ribetsu no kotoba 許六離別の詞
