Category: 1689

A Fine Mist at Mt. Nikko

Along the Oku no Hosomichi
Spring 1689

Here it is half way through May and I find myself wondering where Matsuo Basho is on his journey into Japan’s northern interior (Oku no Hosomichi). Matsuo Basho, no doubt, reckoned by lunar months which makes it difficult pinpoint a place with a specific date.

Today, there is a gentle mist, white clouds, and still the birds are singing. The leaves on the trees are green, not the bright green of early spring, but the full rich green of summer.

Yet, I go back to Mt. Nikko, the fifth stop on the journey known as Oku no Hosomichi. Mt. Nikko (日光), which means bright beams of sunlight.

By Basho’s reckoning, it is the last day of March. He and his traveling companion Sora rested at an inn at the foot of Mt. Niko. There they slept in perfect peace. The next day there was a fine mist, and Basho and Sora climbed the mountain to give homage to its holiest shrine. The site was made famous by Kobo Daishi, founder of Shingon Buddhism. This sect emphasizesthe Hindu concept of dharma, nature’s eternal and inherent reality, the underlying cosmic law revealing right behavior and social order. Do good to be good.

One is always struck with awe when the mist ends and the clouds clear. So too with Basho:

Awe! green leaves, young leaves, sparkling sunlight

あらたふ と青葉若葉の 日の光
ara touto aoba wakaba no hi no hikari

ara (awe) touto (completely, precisely) aoba (fresh leaves) wakaba (new leaves) no hi no (brightness) hikari (light, illumination)

How Wonderful

The Trip

Matsuo Basho reveals to his disciple Kyori that he and his neighbor Kawai Sora are planning a trip. The trip that would make Basho famous.

How wonderful!
This year, this Spring
As I journey under the sky (Sora)
I おもしろや ことしの春も 旅のそら
omoshiro ya / kotoshi no Itam mo / tabi no sora

Matsuo Basho, Spring 1689

The trip was to become Oku no Hosomichi, a nine month journey into Japan’s Northern Interior. The notes and haiku Basho wrote along the way would not be published until eight years after Basho’ death in 1694. It would in time make his name immortal.

According to a disciple of Basho, Mukai Kyori (向井 去来, 1651–1704), this haiku was written as a way of saying he was going on a trip with his neighbor Sora, whose name means “sky.” After Basho’s death in 1694, Kyori published stories about his master.

Here is one example of Kyori’s haiku. The smartweed suggest Kyori had health issues (like Basho) and the firefly emphasizes the fleeting nature of life.

草の戸に我は蓼くふほたる哉
kusa no to ni ware wa tade kuu hotaru kana

in a dreary hut of wood and grass,
feeding on smartweeds am I
— a firefly!

Mukai Kyori, 向井 去来, 1651–1704

[kusa no to ni (in a thatched roof hut) ware wa (I am) tade kuu (eating smartweed) hotaru (firefly) kana (used for emphasis)] The mention of Smartweed suggest that Kyori like Basho had health issues. Smartweed can be found in wet marshland. It is an herbal medicine taken to stop bleeding from hemorrhoids.

Source of Kyori’s haiku: World Haiku Review

Presumably, Kyori had in mind this Basho’s haiku written about leaving his cottage. It begins with the same three characters 草の戸, kusa no to. Basho cottage is being taken by a family with young girls. Presumably, written on the third of March, Doll’s Day, celebrated in Japan as Hinamatsuri 雛祭り.

in my simple cottage
will come a world of change
full of dolls

草の戸も住替はる代ぞひなの家
kusa no to mo . sumi kawaru yo zo . hina no ie

Matsuo Basho, March 3, 1689