The words of Basho I quoted, "There is no intention to turn back even one step," mean that the repetition of similar images and the fixation of ideas once presented are actions that should be avoided above all else. Because nature is always new, Basho says that if one has the will to delve into its depths, one's own mind will naturally be renewed as one travels.

The 'Kasen,' a 36-line 'haikai-renga' linked verse poem, is a microcosm that captures in words the scenery of the four seasons and the changing hearts of people, but what is most important is the revelation of the constant newness of nature and us human beings, and it gives the impression of a will to resist the illusion of time as a cycle that is premised on infinite repetition. There is a 'fluctuation' that is the essence of actual feeling, and 'haikai' is the act of coming and gathering to witness this together.

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As an example of 'haikai-renga', let us quote the opening of "Kono-Hotori," a famous 'kasen' poetry by Yosa Buson and his fellows:

薄(すすき)見つ萩やなからん此ほとり　蕪村

Saw silver grass.
Does not hagi bloom
around here? [by Buson]

風より起る秋の夕に　樗良

At fall evening that
begin from wind [by Chora]

舟たへて宿とるのみの二日月　几董

Ships are over,
so get only lodging the
second day's moon [by Kitou]

紀行の模様一歩一変　嵐山

Travelogue changes with
step by step [by Ranzan]

In this way, the 'haikai-renga' progresses with a rhythm of 575 verses, followed by 77 verses, then 575 and 77. 'Kasen' is named after the Thirty-six Immortal Poets and is a haikai renga (linked verse) of 36 verses.

Basho is said to have told his disciples, "Kasen is 36 steps. There is no intention to turn back even one step. The heart renews as one goes, because the heart is just the will that one keeps moving forward." This is the essence of the spirit of haikai and the heart that haiku should harbor.

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The haikai (headwater of haiku) was originally a literary art of seriously playful group composing, and its true spirit lies in the kind of cosmology which as composing a linked verse in seasonal rule and role by a group.

Of course, one could argue that the tendency to appreciate the opening line of haikai-renga on its own was already present in Basho's era, and that Shiki simply carried the tendency to an even more extreme level.

However, Basho believed that the secret of haiku lies in the art of attaching the next verse, and that haikai-renga should not be neglected, so his work is completely different in content from the so-called 'haiku' of Shiki, who extracted only the hokku and made it independent.

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Then, we need to talk about what the 'spirit' of haiku is, and to do that, we first need to know what haiku is.

In a nutshell, 'haiku' is a modern term and concept avocated by the Meiji era writer Shiki MASAOKA, and the traditional works written before him such as by Bashō MATSUO are not 'haiku'.

The haiku-like works written by Japanese Edo era haikai poets were called 'hokku' which means the 'opening line' of 'haikai-renga' (group collaborative linked verse poetry). Therefore they did not compose so called haiku; they placed emphasis on the 'haikai renga' rather than on the opening line.

In contrast, Shiki MASAOKA declared that 'haikai-renga' was not a literary art, and modernized the haikai by extracting only the 'hokku'(opening line) and burying the 'haikai-renga'(group collaborative linked verse poetry), creating the term and concept of haiku.

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