As useless as - a banana tree in Japan?

One of Japan's greatest poets was a man called Matsuo Basho (1650-1722). He is credited by many with lifting haiku into "the realm of perfect poetry".

Basho was born Matsuo Kinsaku but later known as 'Toshichiro', and occasionally, 'Chuemon'. In 1664, his first two poems, hokku, were published under the pen name 'Sobo'.

In 1666, he moved from the city of Ueno to Kyoto's Kinpukuji Temple, and there studied Japanese and Chinese classics, as well as calligraphy. He returned home briefly in 1671, but the following year moved to Edo (Tokyo). It as there that he met the poet, Soin, a metaphorical poet whose influence on Japanese poetry was then at its peak and, subsequent effect on Matsuo so great, that he changed his pen name again: this time to Tosei. His poetry changed dramatically as well to a much freer, more metaphor filled style and this is illustrated by a poem written on a home visit from Edo:

                                        My souvenir from Edo

                                        Is the refreshingly cold wind

                                        Of Mount Fuji

                                        I brought home on my fan.

In 1680, one of his admirers built him a small house in Fukagawa, in a relatively isolated spot near the Sumida river. Another of his fans presented him with the roots of a Basho tree (a type of banana) and this was planted beside the house which he then called "Banana Hut".

                     The leaves of the Basho tree are large enough to cover a harp. When they are wind-broken, they remind me of the injured tail of a phoenix, and when they are torn, they remind me of a green fan ripped by the wind. The tree does not bear flowers, but unlike other flowers, there is nothing gay about them. The big trunk of the tree is untouched by the axe, for it is utterly useless as building wood. I love the tree, however, for its very uselessness ... I sit underneath it, and enjoy the wind and rain that blow against it.

Yet again, the much admired and talented Matsuo Kinsaku changed his name: this time to Basho (Banana tree) and with that, went on to change Japanese poetry and the art of haiku for ever. 

                                                   Breaking the silence
                                                   Of an ancient pond,
                                                   A frog jumped into the water -
                                                   A deep resonance.

Greatness can lie in the most mundane of things.  Even the seemingly, most utterly useless of objects (a tropical fruit tree in Japan) can contain great Art; and from Nature, great minds draw their inspiration. Thus it is that in William Blake's "world in a grain of sand," Basho's banana trees can be found growing.

(For more: read Penguin Classics: NOBUYUKI YUASA's introduction to "The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travels" by Matsuo Basho).