Love According to Masajo Suzuki's Haiku

Masajo Suzuki is regarded as one of the best haiku writers of her time within the genre of love haiku. Her knowledge of the subject matter stems from her personal experiences with love and heartbreak, which I will discuss more in depth later. She connects universally to her readers with her style of writing, which normally includes nature. According to Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi in the introduction to Masajo Suzuki ‘s book, Love Haiku, she is “not just a love poet in the sense of writing about her lover and love relationship, but a love poet in the larger sense of loving life and living it fully.” (Suzuki, et al. 7).

Suzuki’s muse and inspiration is her own love life. Suzuki says of love, “Love in my haiku is always vivid and alive. In my heart, love does not belong to the past but to NOW” (Suzuki, et al. 15). Suzuki’s love life was very dramatic and emotional, which provided for great poetry. Her first husband mysteriously disappeared, leaving her to be expected to take on her dead sister’s widower husband. Within this new relationship, Masajo found herself unhappy, until one day a naval air force officer, whom she refers to as Y.M., came to stay at the hotel Masajo ran with her husband. She and the naval officer fell in love instantly, and their relationship continued for forty years until his death (Suzuki, et al. 13). This sometimes long-distance relationship with Y.M. is the inspiration of most of Masajo’s love haiku.

What sets Masajo Suzuki’s love haiku apart from most other love haiku are two things: the haiku’s ability to be relatable to all types of readers and the naturalistic aspect to the poetry. Many of Masajo’s poems express intense love and passion, yet they are not gender specific. Both men and women can relate to the message that is being conveyed. And in those poems where a particular gender is specified, it is easily changeable. Words such as ‘man’ and ‘woman’ or ‘he’ and ‘she’ could be interchangeable to relate the poem to the opposite sex, as opposed to if she had used topics such as motherhood, which can only be experienced by women. The second unique feature in Masajo’s pieces is her connection to nature. In most of her poems she includes a line about nature, which can often be linked to a particular season. A topic which Masajo includes quite often is cherry blossoms, which are a highly regarded symbol in Japanese culture. Additionally, Masajo likes to use everyday words in her poetry as opposed to the archaic language that other poets of her time tended to use, so her haiku are more easily understood and connected with by readers (Suzuki, et al. 15). To analyze some of Masajo’s work, here are a few favorites from her ‘Love Haiku’ collection.

on the dressing table
the ring removed
from my finger

Masajo Suzuki, Love Haiku, 22

This poem is able to convey a strong sense of emotion. When I read this poem, a picture is conveyed to me of a man or woman who is having an affair, and their ring has been removed from their finger and left on the dressing table. It would be logical that this situation could be connected to Masajo’s relationship with Y.M. considering that during the beginning of their relationship, she was still married to her husband (who is also her late sister’s husband), and throughout their entire relationship, Y.M. had a wife and children at home. In addition to the strong emotion present in this haiku, there is also that sense of relatablitiy to many readers. Since the last line reads, “from MY finger,” a certain gender is not specified, which allows both male and female readers to identify with these emotions. If the poem had read, “from HIS finger, “ or “from HER finger, “ then the poem would have gender identity, but an identity which could easily be changed to adapt to the reader. This poem also is one example of the haiku in which Masajo chose not to include a naturalistic aspect, but to get a good understanding of the nature in her haiku, look at the following haiku:

the last drop
from the perfume bottle—
cherry blossom rain

Masajo Suzuki, LH, 31

The last line in this haiku ties perfectly in with the first two lines, because imagining the lingering sweet smell of cherry blossoms is the perfect way to get a sense of the perfume bottle, and how there is no more liquid inside the bottle, but the bottle still exudes a magnificent cherry blossom smell. Additionally, the cherry blossom rain is an important feature in the spring season in Japan, so the nature and outdoorsy aspect is displayed beautifully in this poem. As I had mentioned with the last poem, this haiku is not gender specific either. Perhaps a woman is getting ready to go out, but when she attempted to spray her perfume, she realizes that her perfume bottle is nearly empty. Or on the other hand, perhaps a man in upset or missing his lover and he walks over to her dressing table and picks up her perfume which is almost gone, but the smell of her perfume lingers, just and she still lingers in his mind. The dash in the second line also helps give the notion of lingering feelings, because it draws out the second line, making it linger for the reader. This is a wonderful example of how Masajo’s haiku can have very different meanings for many different people, and this shows how she is universally relatable.

I put up my hair
so he sees the nape of my neck. . .
new green leaves

Masajo Suzuki, LH, 32

Now this next poem, above, is one of the few poems where a certain gender is specified, and it would be hard to interchange the other gender. But even with this being the case, the aspect of nature is still present. The final line refers to the trees getting their new green leaves in the late spring and early summer. In connection to the first two lines, this makes me think that perhaps this event is a first occurrence. The nape of the neck is a very sexual and seductive part of the body, and she is exposing this part of her body to her lover for the first time. The ellipses in the second line help draw out the suspense of the haiku, and add tension and emotion to the poem.

autumn wind
he pretends not to see me
as he passes

Masajo Suzuki, LH, 35

In this poem, Masajo once again adds a certain element of nature in the first line. The autumn wind allows her to set the tone of the poem. The seasonal word portrays a cold mood, and perhaps even a sense of emptiness or sadness. In this poem, we again see a specified gender, but the two masculine pronouns could be changed to feminine pronouns to make it more relatable to men. The mentioning of the autumn wind also make me think of the way wind blows right by you without caring. This is similar to the manner in which the man in the haiku passes by her.

that memory
if it comes to life again. . .
warmth within me

Masajo Suzuki, LH, 66

In this poem, there is no reference to nature, but there is another set of ellipses. The ellipses help add suspense and draw out the emotion. Once again, there is no specified gender, letting all readers identify with the haiku. I particularly like this poem, because it shows the compassion Masajo still has even after the death of Y.M., who died in 1977. All she has left of him is a piece of his finger bone and her memories, but that is all she needs. When her memories of him surface, she becomes alive and filled with love. Because like she said, “Love in my haiku is always vivid and alive. In my heart, love does not belong to the past but to NOW” (Suzuki, et al 15).

I have stolen a man
but never a thing of value
I roll up the bamboo bind

Masajo Suzuki, LH, 69

This is one of Masajo’s more intense haiku. She directly states that she has stolen a man. The second line is also very intense. One way it could be interoperated is that a man is not of value. But the more common interpretation is that stealing a man is different than stealing money or a car, because those things have superficial and monetary value. Either way, the third line makes me think as if she knows she stole a man, yet has no remorse because they are in love, and so she goes about her usual day. Also, the bamboo blind is often associated with summer because of its use to block out the sun’s rays.

love’s arrow
has missed its mark—
autumn wind

Masajo Suzuki, LH, 94

This particular haiku is a favorite of mine. The reference to the cold autumn wind again sets a depressed tone of sadness. It is universally identifiable because it is not gender specific. For me, the second row is the most important. By adding the dash, Masajo not only added stress, but also separated the mentioning of nature from the rest of the haiku. Also in the second line, the small alliteration of m’s in ‘missed’ and ‘mark’ along with the similar S sounds in ‘missed’ and ‘its’ really help to make the poem flow freely, yet it also makes the mouth move in interested way. In fact, if one were to try to repeat, “missed its mark” a few times, it would become a tongue twister.

I detest the man
yet I long for him—
willow leaves falling

Masajo Suzuki, LH, 38

This poem is very relatable to readers even though it is written from a female point of view. I particularly like the use of ‘yet’ as opposed to ‘but’ which I feel is a more romantic word choice. Masajo’s haiku always seem to be very methodically produced. They are short and precise. This is a gender specific poem, but I feel that it wouldn’t have the same intensity if it were written from a man’s point of view, and for that reason I also love this haiku. The willow leaves is a rather depressing word and sets the tone for the poem. Willows are often referred to as ‘Weeping Willows’ so a sense of sadness is created by the final line.

longing for love—
I place a single strawberry
in my mouth

Masajo Suzuki, LH, 50

blindfolded
I taste a strawberry. .
.then your lips

Eddie Pluhar, Kukai 9

In comparing these two haiku, we can see much more about how Masajo’s style of writing has influenced many writers, both male and female. Both haiku talk about strawberries, which are often related by readers to the season of summer. Masajo uses a dash after ‘love’ to put emphasis on the word and to muster up emotions. Likewise, Eddie uses ellipses before introducing the part about lips. This also creates tension. Masajo says of her own haiku, “A red and round strawberry reminds me of my first love.” (Suzuki et al. 50). This is another theme that is relatable to most readers. The one major difference that I feel is distracting when it comes to these poems is the first line. Masajo chooses to use the word, ‘longing’ which to me implies a deeper sense of sensuality between her and a possible lover. But when Eddie starts off by saying ‘blindfolded’ this could possibly be misconstrued by some readers into thinking this form of love is less sensual, more sexual, and possibly even what some would call ‘kinky.’ I think this difference in writing styles is probably a result of changing times. I love both of these poems, and the similarities between the two really show how much Eddie’s style is modeled after Masajo’s. Both poems are not gender specific, which allows readers to connect on a deeper level than if they had been written for one specific gender.

As it can be concluded, Masajo Suzuki’s contribution to the world of love haiku has been immense. She used her own personal life to help propel her haiku into action, and for that reason is regarded as one of the best love haiku writers of all time. In fact, her book Shimokuren (Purple Mongolia) won was it considered to be the highest award in the haiku world, the Dakotsu Prize (Suzuki, et al. 15). Her unique style includes using seasonal nature words to help convey meaning and passion through her writing. She also writes many love haiku in a neuter gender, which allows readers of all genders to connect with her haiku. Masago’s haiku have been inspirational and her writing style is modeled by many, including many in the Global Haiku class at Millikin University.

Works Cited

Suzuki, Masajo, Lee Gurga, and Emiko Miyashita. Love Haiku: Masajo Suzuki’s Lifetime of Love. Decatur, IL: Brooks Books, 2000. Print.