If Basho Journeyed to Colorado

Lesson Title:

If Bashō Journeyed to Colorado

By:

Christine Cervera, Wendy Blasingame, Leah Ebel, Stacey Mandel, and Blanca Carbajal Rodriquez

Featured Children’s Literature Title:

Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho by Dawnine Spivak

Objectives:

  1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of three geographical features of Japan and three of Colorado.
  2.  Students will know three important landmarks both in Japan and Colorado.
  3. Students will be able to explain who Bashō is and why he is important to Japan.
  4. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the haiku form of poetry.

Colorado Model Content Standards:

Geography:

Standard 1. Students know how to use and construct maps, globes and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, and environments. 

Standard 5. Students understand the effects of interactions between human and physical systems and the changes in meaning, use distribution, and importance of resources. 

Standard 6. Students apply knowledge of people, places, and environments to understand the past and present and to plan for the future.

History:

Standard 1. Students understand the chronological organization of history and know how to organize events and people into major eras to identify and explain historical relationships. 

Standard 6. Students know that religious and philosophical ideas have been powerful forces throughout history.

Reading and Writing:

Standard 1.Students read and understand a variety of materials. 

Standard 2. Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences. Standard 3. Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization and spelling. 

Standard 4. Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing. 

Standard 5. Students read to locate, select, and make use of relevant information from a variety of media, reference, and technological sources. 

Standard 6. Students read and recognize literature as a record of human experience.

Visual Arts:

Standard 1. Students recognize and use the visual arts as a form of communication. Standard 4. Students relate the visual arts to various historical and cultural traditions.

Plan for Assessment:

Students will be assessed at the end of the lesson by noting similarities and differences between Colorado’s and Japan’s geography. Student haiku will be assessed. (See attached rubric.)

Notes:

This lesson is designed for fourth grade, but can be easily modified to meet the needs of third or fifth as well. This lesson provides a great way to review students’ learning of Colorado history. 

This is a multi-day lesson. Here is one possible time frame:

  • Day 1: Do introductory activity, read aloud Grass Sandals book. Discuss who Bashō is and why he is important and famous in Japan. Use map of Japan to show where his journey(s) took place.
  • Day 2: Browse books and resources about Colorado. Decide as a class what “trail” will be used for the class “journey.” Assign areas about which students will write haiku. Allow time for research on their topic (books, reference materials, Internet, photographs, etc.)
  • Day 3: Study haiku format, go over rubric and write haiku. Peer edit, spell-check, etc. Recopy final in best handwriting.
  • Day 4: Students make a watercolor painting to go with haiku. Assemble Japanese paper scrolls (kakejiku).
  • Day 5: Put paper scrolls in order according to journey. Students write a stanza of two lines of seven syllables each to link the haiku and create a class renga. Peer edit, spell-check, final copy. Display finished work on bulletin board.
  • Day 6: Students complete Exit Slip.

Materials:

Texts: Grass Sandals: The Travels of Bashō by Dawnine Spivak, also recommended are additional books on haiku, such as Today and Today by Issa Kobayashi (another famous historical Japanese poet), Cool Melons—Turn into Frogs!: The Life and Poems of Issa by Matthew Gollub, Bashō and the Fox by Tim Myers, Bashō and the River Stones by Tim Myers, and Haiku Picturebook for Children by Kesuke Nishimoto. Ask your librarian to help gather helpful resources including reference and other books and pamphlets on Colorado’s geography.

Other Materials: “Photographs of Japan” PowerPoint (attached); Internet access; map of Japan; map of Bashō’s journey(s) (see back of Grass Sandals or “Resources and References” for internet link); blank map of Japan (1 per student) ;

map of Colorado; globe; paper; pencils; watercolor paint; and “Exit Slip” worksheet, 1 for each student (choice of T-chart or Venn Diagram; see attached).

If available, a pair of waraji (grass sandals) and a picture of the type of banana tree from which Bashō took his pen name ().

Implementation:

Introduction:

  1. Show “Photographs of Japan” PowerPoint. (Seeattached.) Ask students, What picture do you get in your mind about the geography of Japan while looking at these photos?

Connections:

  1. Read aloud the book Grass Sandals by Dawnine Spivak. After reading the book, make a list as a class of “Ten Statements We Can Make about the Geography of Japan” based upon the PowerPoint photos and the book.

Instruction:

  1. Discuss who Bashō was and the purpose of his journey. Bashō lived from 1644–1694. Bashō was born into a low-ranking samurai family. He studied linked-verse forms or poetry known as renga with the heir of the samurai family he served. When his friend, the heir, died unexpectedly, Bashō discarded his samurai life. He traveled and studied Zen Buddhism, meditation and classical literature. He continued to write poetry and published several collections. Around 1671, he moved to Edo (now Tokyo) teaching and participating in poetry circles. Desiring simplicity, he lived in a modest hut. He chose the pen name, Bashō, which means “banana tree”, after a favorite tree in his garden. His haiku poetry reflected universal themes through simple natural imagery. He believed that poetry could be a source of enlightenment. Ten years prior to his death, at age 40, he began the first of five journeys through Japan. On his journeys, Bashō collaborated with other local poets on renga and wrote journals of his travels in haibun, a diary of prose and poems. His most famous haibun was Oku no Hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Northern Interior) which he wrote on a journey to Northern Japan in 1689, accompanied by his friend and apprentice Kawai Sora. He traveled and wrote until his death. Most of the places that he loved can still be visited today and his haiku poetry has a timeless quality. To this day, Bashō remains one of the most famous and best-loved poets in Japan. Optional – Show picture of banana tree from (See “Resources and References” for further readings on Matsuo Bashō.)
  2. Project the map at the end of Grass Sandals (which matches places Bashō visited with poems in the book) or one of the internet maps of Bashō’s journey under “Resources and References.” Use the map to show students some places which inspired Bashō’s poetry. Introduce students to the concept of utamakura (poetry pillow words).
  3. Utamakura are a set of historical place names in Japan that evoke imagery and allusion when used in a poem. Just the mention of a place’s name implies in the mind of a reader a special meaning, mood, season, or reference to history. These place names are associated or linked to specific poetic words that have been used by generations of poets in Japan. Utamakura were important destinations in Bashō’s journeys. He had studied classical poetry with utamakura references and he wanted to see the places for himself.
  4. (See “Resources and References” for further readings on utamakura.) 
  5. Have the students mark the utamakura on a blank map of Japan Then have students trace Bashō’s journeys on their map worksheet.
  6. Shift students’ attention to a map of Colorado. Have students browse through some atlases and books about Colorado and write a list of ten important geographical features or places in Colorado. (If students have already learned about Colorado, review their learning of geographical and historical places in Colorado.)
  7. Pose the following question: If we were Colorado explorers, what ten places might we like to visit? What trail should we follow? With student input design a “trail” through Colorado. Guided Practice:
  8. Assignoralloweachchildtochooseoneofthetenplacesontheclasstrailto research and write a haiku about. Tell students that as Bashō travelled with his friend and student, Sora, to Northern Japan, they will have partners writing haiku about the same place. Depending on class size two or three people will each be researching and writing individual haiku about each place.
  9. Refer to the Grass Sandals book once more to notice the haiku format. Haiku is a form of poetry which has three lines. The first line has five syllables, the second has seven syllables, and the last has five again. (5,7,5) A haiku should focus on a single moment and capture the essence of that moment using at least two senses. Haikus are not meant to tell a whole story. Good observation skills are needed to make sure the haiku subtly describes nature, rather than blatantly tells it. Haiku should not rhyme; nor should it make a complete sentence. To get everyone off to a good start, the first haiku for the first destination on the trail will be written as a class.
  10. Instruct students to write their haiku. Approve each poem through peer-edit, spell-check, etc. and have students write a final version for display in their best handwriting. Assess students’ haiku (rubric attached).
  11. Mount their picture on a hanging scroll along with the final version of their haiku neatly below it. Conclusion: A class rengaInstruct students to use water colors to create a picture that goes with their haiku.
  12. Discuss the format of renga with the students. Bashō was a renga poet, although today we associate him with haiku. Yet, when he lived haiku did not stand on its own as a poetic format. A renga is a form of collaborative linked poetry that is composed of usually 36 or 100 stanzas each with 31 syllables and five lines (5,7,5,7,7). Bashō wrote renga poetry with friends, students, and people hosting him on hisjourneys. One person wrote the first three lines (5,7,5) of the stanza and another wrote the last two lines (7,7). Bashō was famous for his leading three lines (5,7,5) of the first stanza of the renga and thus is known today for his haiku. Renga artfully switch from one subject to the next, sometimes changing the mood if needed.
  13. Display the haiku scrolls in the “trail” order. Have each group of two or three students who wrote about a particular place/geographical feature read the previous haiku and then their own. To link the haiku on the hanging scrolls, have the small groups compose one stanza, with two lines each with seven syllables, which connects the previous poem to their own. Remind students to consider artfully switching from one subject to the next and changing the mood if needed. Approve each small group’s 7-7 stanza. Have the students write the final versions neatly on small long sheets of paper. Artwork will not be added to the renga verses.
  14. (For an example of how to display the finished project see the attached diagram on last page of this lesson plan.)
  15. Choose and assign an Exit Slip for students. Have students list 2 similarities
  16. between Japan’s and Colorado’s geography and 2 differences between Japan’s and Colorado’s geography. Assess students’ worksheet with Exit Slip Key (attached).

Extensions and Cross-Curricular Ideas:

  1. Poetry: This unit/lesson can be used as part of a poetry unit.
  2. Art: This lesson can be combined with an art lesson on using the sumi-e painting style. More information can be found here:
  3. Landforms:Japan’s geography can be used to study landforms,especially volcanoes, island, coasts, etc.
  4. Explorers: As an alternate project, a class studying explorers could use some of the same concepts as this lesson, but have the students write haiku for the places their explorers discovered instead.

Resources and References: 

Books 

Donegan, Patricia. (2003) Haiku: Learn to Express Yourself by Writing Poetry in the Japanese Tradition. Boston: Tuttle Publishing.

Gollub, Matthew. (1998) Cool Melons—Turn to Frogs!: The Life and Poems of Issa. New York: Lee and Low Books.

Higginson, William J. with Penny Harter. (1985) Excerpt on Renga from “Before Haiku.” The Haiku Handbook. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 181-207 and 223-242.

Kobayashi, Issa. (2007) Today and Today. New York: Scholastic Press. Myers, Tim. (2000) Basho and the Fox. New York: Marshall Cavendish.

Myers, Tim. (2004) Basho and the River Stones. New York: Marshall Cavendish.

Nishimoto, Kesuke. (1998) Haiku Picturebook for Children. Torrance, California: Heian International.

Spivak, Dawnine. (1997) Grass Sandals: The Travels of Bashō. New York: Antheneum Books.

Internet Sources: 

Information about Bashō:

Information on utamakura:

Maps of Bashō’s journey:

)

Blank map of Japan for student worksheet:

Maps of Japan:

Photo of banana tree:

Map of Colorado:

Information on hanging scrolls and sumi-e painting: