Plum Rain

Japan’s rainy season is called “tsuyu” 梅雨. It occurs in June and July. Because the plum ripens at this time, the rainy season is also”meiyu” 梅雨. Basho is refering to the fact that sometimes the plums collect mildew and turn sour. The Ume fruit, or plum, is a popular summer fruit. and the riper it gets, the more sour.

Written in Kyoto, in the 7th year of the Kanbun era (1667), when the artist was 24 years old.

Ah, the sound of rain falling —
to the ears, it sounds sour
as it rains, the plum ripens

降る音や耳も酸うなる梅の雨
Furu oto ya mimi mo san unaru ume no ame
— the poet who one day become Matsuo Basho, 1667

The poet, then known as Tosei 桃青, meaning green peach.

Birthdays

Happy Birthday,
7th year of Kabun, 1667
Age 23-24

Gazing at the moon,
An Indian summer evening,
One feels the New Year coming.

月の鏡小春にみるや目正月
tsuki no kagami / koharu ni miru ya / me shōgatsu
Munefusa, who would one day become Matsuo Basho, Autumn 1667

An Indian summer, and autumn signals the passing year. Is that then a birthday?

Kyoto, 1667

One year since Tōdō Yoshitada, his master, died. One year since he left his home in Ueno. One year in Kyoto. One year composing poems. One year passing.

What would the New Year bring?

As the poet would later write in his introduction to Oku no Hosomichi: “The months and days travel throughout eternity. Like voyagers, the years come and go.” Basho was not yet Basho. He was still forming, still becoming, the journey just beginning.

Birthdays?

Matsuo Basho’s birthday is unknown.

In the good old days before greeting cards, balloons, and birthday cakes, Japan had one day, the same day of the year that was dedicated to the celebration of one’s birthday — New Year’s Day. Making sense because then, according to ancient beliefs, that was the day everyone got older.

So, should you wish to wish him Happy Birthday, do it on Shōgatsu (正月), the Japanese festival of the New Year.

Or perhaps, one evening in October, when the moon is full, and the weather’s warm.

For then,

When the moon is full,
you’ll see, clearly in the mirror,
you’re getting older.
— Bashō no yōna, getting older, 2024

Warm Wind

Likely composed in Kyoto, 7th year of the Kanbun era, 1667, age 24.

Perhaps, it was windy.

An East wind, ah
swaying in every direction
— willowy hair

あち東風や . 面々さばき . 柳髪
Achi kochi ya . menmen sabaki . yanagi gami
Matsuo Basho, Kyoto, 1667, age 24

Meanwhile

Here in middle America, last week was unseasonably warm. The weatherman celebrated March first as the first day of Spring. It was a beautiful day for walk in the park with the dogs off leash. A gentle breeze stirring thoughts of Spring.

For the young poet (not yet known as Basho), three years had passed since the death of Todo Yoshitada, his Samurai master and poetic mentor. At the age of 21, the poet ran away to Kyoto, to stroll along the serene Shirakawa River lined with yanagi (willow trees) and sakura (cherry trees). Kyoto would forever stay in his heart, long after he moved to Edo in 1672.

Notes on Translation

Kochi, literally and East wind, a warm breeze. Menmen sabaki, literally, menmen, in every direction; sabaki, judgement. A person sees things as one wants. Yanagi gami, hair that blows to and fro like a willow branch in the wind; yanagi, meaning willow or willow-like, fine and slender.