¡°I have nothing to declare except my genius,¡± Oscar Wilde supposedly once told an American customs officer. The same could be said of Santoka Taneda (1882-1940), Japan¡¯s beloved modern haiku poet.
But Taneda was too humble to make such a boast. ¡°I¡¯m nothing but a panhandling priest,¡± he said of his life as a mendicant monk, wandering the backroads of Japan, constantly composing free verse haiku. ¡°It¡¯s because I¡¯m without talent or genius that I¡¯ve been able to single-mindedly devote myself to the path of making verses. I¡¯ve been incapable of doing anything else.¡±
He was a flop at running his father¡¯s sake brewery, and a failure as a husband and father. He even considered himself a fraud as a Zen priest.
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