It’s Hot

August 1689
Oku no Hosomichi

I have no GPS to track Matsuo Basho on his journey into Japan’s northern interior (Oku no Hosomichi). Roughly speaking, it is July or August, depending on one’s use of the lunar or solar calendar. Basho and Sora, his traveling companion, are on Japan’s western coast, near Niigata. Four or five months into their journey by foot, boat, and pony. They have go to be getting homesick. There is little relief from the bright red sun.

Red, bright red!
a sun without pity and
now the autumn wind!

あかあかと日はつれなくも秋の風
aka aka to hi wa tsurenaku mo aki no kaze
Matsuo Basho, Oku no Hosomichi, on the western coast, August 1689

Back in Kansas

Late August, 2023
The Flint Hills, Kansas

It’s one hundred and six in the shade. It is Kansas in August. The sun is without pity to poets and dogs. Is the autumn wind refreshing?

My God, it’s hot, it’s hot. The sun is a big burning ball of fire in a bright blue sky. The autumn winds wilt what’s left in my garden. Out on the Flint Hills, there are few trees. I hardly sweat. I heave, I gasp, mercy me, it’s hot, damn hot!

Notes on Translation

aka (red, bright red) aka (red) to (several meanings, here probably meant as emphasis) hi (sun) wa (topic marker for the sun) tsurenaku (‘unsympathetic,’ ‘doesn’t care.’ Another source suggest that this means ‘ignorant,’ as in the sun is just being the sun and nothing more. This less anthropomorphic view is in line with Buddhism and Taoism, i.e. ‘the sun is the sun and nothing more.’) mo (another topic marker as the poet’s thought shifts to the autumn wind) aki no kaze (autumn wind).

Post Script

Bashō no yōna (the pseudonym for the author of this blog) has a daughter, who like Matsuo Basho earns her living with pen and tongue. If you are looking for confidence coaching, social media advice, and fantastic advertising check her out at hannahdavisspeaks.com, the place where you will find your voice.

Hotter than Hades

It was 106 degrees in the shade yesterday in Kansas.

Hotter than Hades,
is Kansas in August,
Good grief, no relief?
Bashō no yōna

Summer, the rainy season. The Mogami River, swollen with rain. The end of July, Basho and Sora arrived in Sakata, on Japan’s western coast, after a thrilling ride down the river. Sora wrote, “It is very hot.” Matsuo Basho did not often complain about the heat. Heat was, I suppose, a fact of life. Deal with it.

The best thing to do on a hot day is to jump in the river or the sea, as the case may be.

The hot sun
Splashes in the sea
— Mogami River
(The best thing to do!)

暑き日を　海に入れたり　最上川

Atsuki hi wo Umi ni iretari Mogamigawa
Matsuo Basho, Sakata, late summer, 1689

Atsuki (hot) hi (sun, day) wo (particle relating to cause, ‘hot was the day’) Umi (sea, ocean) ni (at, to, in) iretari (to put in) Mogamigawa (Mogami River). If we dissect ‘Mogamigawa‘ (最上川) to mean ‘best’ or ‘greatest’; (最) plus in (上); ending with gawa (川), we have ‘the best thing is to jump in the river’.

Traveler

A traveler with no home

John Steinbeck famously said, “People don’t take trips, trips take people.” More often, it is said, “It is not the destination, but the journey.” Basho himself, said as much, “Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” (Introduction to Oku no Hosomichi, a journey into Japan’s northern interior). We attempt to set down roots, but in the end, we recognize we are all just traveling on. And the unknown final destination just a compass point

a traveler with no home
has the heart of
a kotatsu

住みつかぬ旅の心や置火燵
sumitsu kanu tabi no kokoro ya okigotatsu
Matsuo Basho, Kyoto, 1690

Kyoto, 1690

Son, servant, student, disciple, teacher, wanderer — the evolution of Matsuo Basho. Following in the footsteps of Saiygo (西行, 1118-1190), making his own path.

In one sense, Kyoto, 1690 was the end of a circle. It was where young Matsuo began his life as student. It was where he ended the epic journey we know of as Oku no Hosomichi. It was the point from which Matsuo, the traveler, would continue on for four more years, until wanting to complete his journey returned to his final destination, nearby Osaka, on November 28, 1694.

sumitsu (home) kanu (can’t, unable to) tabi (traveler, stranger) no (possessive particle) kokoro (heart, spirit) ya (emphasis) okigotatsu (kotasu, a table built over a portable warmer)

Shrimp Tonight?

Otsu, Shiga province, Summer 1690.
One wonders if death was on his mind:

やがてしぬけしきはみえず蝉の声
yagate shinu keshiki mo miezu semi no koe

Before long
the sounds of cicadas
will cease
Matsuo Basho, Otsu, Summer-Fall, 1690

At the conclusion of his nine month journey into the northern interior (Oku no Hosomichi), Matsuo Basho visited friends around Kyoto. He delayed his return to Edo, in the summer and fall of 1690, staying for almost four months at Otsu on Lake Biwa in a cottage known as Genju-an (the Unreal Cottage).

Yagate (before long) shinu (to die, pass away, cease) keshiki (scene, landscap) mo miezu (not hear or see) semi no koe (the voice of a cicada)

Then, as autumn approached he went to the fish market for dinner.

A fisherman’s shop, hmmm
Shrimp is mingled with
a camel-cricket, so what

海士の屋は小海老にまじるいとど哉

ama no ya wa koebi ni majiru itodo kana
Matsuo Basho, Sarumino, Otsu, Autumn, 1690

Shrimp is still served at Otsu’s restaurants in Shiga province. The shrimp are river and lake shrimp, so it is easy to see how a cricket can make its way into the fisherman’s catch.

Ama no ya (a fish shop) wa (possibly meaning hmmm or yes) koebi (small river shrimp, but I am not a culinary expert) ni majiru (mixed or mingled) itodo (a camel cricket — it looks like shrimp, picture a hump back cricket hiding in a basket of shrimp) kana (interrogative, well? or, what do you make of that?)

[Note. Matsuo Basho is buried in Otsu, on the ground of a Buddhist temple, Gichū-ji (義仲寺).]

Hydrangeas

Ajisai, 紫陽草

It is August in the Midwest, my hydrangeas (ajisai) are spent, wilting in the afternoon sun, the colors fading, the once stunning and colorful flowers now withered and dry. Until the Edo Period, the Samurai saw this perennial flower as a symbol of immortality, but the changing colors and wilting flowers made them less favored. Matsuo Basho took up the hydrangea twice. The second time was in the summer of 1694, just before he made his very last trip.

hydrangeas —
it’s time for summer clothes
in pale blue
紫陽草や帷子時の薄浅黄
ajisai ya katabira-doki no usu asagi
Matsuo Basho, undated, Summer

ajisai (hydrangea) ya (exclamation) katabira (a thin kimono for mornings or summer wear) doki no (of) usu (thin) asagi (pale blue).

Note. Asagi-iro, 浅葱色 means pale blue. Basho uses the characters 薄浅黄, which Google Translate interprets as usu-asaki, ‘pale yellow.’ Not sure why the discrepancy exists.

hydrangea —
a little thicket in my garden,
another sitting room

紫陽草や薮を小庭の別座敷
ajisai ya yabu-o koniwa no betsu zashiki
Matsuo Basho, Edo, Fukagawa, Summer 1694

ajisai (hydrangeas) ya (exclamation) yabu-o (thicket, a homophone for one who dabbles in Zen meditation, used as the direct object in the haiku) koniwa (small garden) no (of) betsu (separate) zashiki (tatami room, sitting room)

The Summer of 1694

Basho left Edo and his simple cottage in Fukagawa for the last time in the summer of 1694.

In 1691, his nephew Toin joined him at the cottage, and it is likely Toin’s wife, Jutei and four children were there as well. This and the many guest who came to visit created the need for a detached sitting room (tatami).