Munesuke Mita

all of his haiku filled with the idea of Mujōkan. The idea of Mujōkan is come of Buddhism, and it has finally become a unique idea in Japan. Mujō means that everything is changing and nothing is eternal. However, Japanese people view the transience as a treasure. According to Munesuke Mita, some common symbols of Mujōkan in literatures would be anything that is passing away, flowing away, and going away. (Mita,118) Mita also refers that the awareness of the uncertain nature of the future is a common characteristic of Mujōkan. (Mita, 117) At this point, Bashō illustrates the idea of Mujōkan in each Haiku. For instance, in the haiku of “A thicket of summer grass/ Is all the remains/ Of the dreams and ambitions/ Of ancient warriors.” (Bashō, 118) Bashō elaborates that time is slipping away, the ruins are still there, but ancient warriors are gone. He expresses that nothing is going to return to its origin since life is impermanent, in spite of those warriors had heroic legends. The feeling of transience has become a part of the Japanese value for a long time. Mita refers that, “This sense of impermanence is in fact that world-sense in which the historical consciousness of the Japanese people is rooted.” (Mita, 121) The idea of Mujōkan has been one of the mainstreams throughout most modern Japanese literatures. For instance, in the Tsurezuregusa, Yoshida Kenkō demonstrates that the falling blossoms could be as beautiful as the blooming flowers. "Are we to look at cherry…