July 1, 1689

Enough

Since Matsuo Basho kept time by the Japanese lunar calendar, one can not know the exact dates, but that does not matter, it was hot, Matsushima was behind them. Matsuo Basho and Sora were headed inland.

It appears from a map of Basho’s stops along the Oku no Hosomichi that Hiraizumi was enough. Here Basho marveled on the glory of three generations of the Fujiwara clan that passed as if in a dream. And as Nanbu was still far to the north, the two decided to turn back and stay the night in Iwate, heading towards the Hot Springs of Narugo and some welcome relief.

Difficulties lie ahead.

Note. Written on the 17th day of the 5th lunar month.

尿前の関
Shitomae no Seki
Shitomae Barrier

By now, Basho and Sora had traveled some 300 miles from Edo. Perhaps, they looked a little worse for the wear and tear, tired and bedraggled. At the Shitomae Barrier, the they were eyed suspiciously by the border guards at the security station. Perhaps, it was time to start thinking of going back, but not quite yet.

Basho writes in his journal:

“南部道遥にみやりて、岩手の里に泊る。小黒崎みづの小嶋を過て、なるこの湯より、尿前の関にかゝりて、出羽の国に越んとす。
此路旅人稀なる所なれば、関守にあやしめられて、漸として関をこす。
大山をのぼつて日既暮ければ、封人の家を見かけて舎を求む。
三日風雨あれて、よしなき山中に逗留す”

“The road to Nanbu [a distant town in today’s Aomori Prefecture, also spelled Nambu] is far, so we stayed the night in Iwate [both the name of a province and a town]. The next day, we passed by Ogurazaki and Mizu-no-ojima [on Japan’s National Route 47, a statue of Basho is on the highway, looking south], then to the hot springs at Narugo, headed for the Barrier at Shitomae, intending to cross into Dewa Province.

The road was hardly used and the guards at the checkpoint examined us suspiciously. We just managed to get through. Marching up the mountain, darkness began to fall, so when we saw a house belonging to the border guard. We asked for shelter. For three whole days, a wild storm raged, trapping us there among the dark and dreary mountains:”

蚤虱 . 馬の尿 . する枕もと
nomi shirami uma no bari suru makuramoto

fleas and lice, (what’s more),
a horse is pissing,
beside my pillow
— Matsuo Basho, Oku no Hosomichi, Summer, 1689

Enough, now on to Mogami.

Matsushima

Ah, Matsushima

Let us settle the debate once and for all. Basho is said to have composed a famous haiku that goes:

松島や . ああ松島や . 松島や
Matsushima ya . Ā Matsushima ya . Matsushima ya
Ah, Matsushima, Oh, Matsushima, Matsushima, ah!

In an article written after the severe earthquake in 2016, Takayangi Katsuhiro writes, “… the popular comic poet Tawara-bo composed a similar poem (Matsushima ya sate Matsushimaya Matsushima ya), and this has been conveyed erroneously as a work by Basho.”

There is no mention of Matsushima in Oku-no-Hosomichi. This is unusual in as much as Basho comments in the Prologue that he had been “dreaming of the full moon rising over the islands of Matsushima.”

“Why, then, did he not mention it in any of his haiku poems?” Katsuhiro asks. The answer is perhaps that of the Tao de Ching. Beauty is the word, but the word does not convey the feeling of each individual who takes in the beauty. Beauty is ineffable. Thus, one who speaks does not know, one who knows the beauty of Matsushima doesn’t speak.

It was by modern count, the 21st station on the journey. It followed Shiogama, on the coast just past Sendai. Today, boasting all manner of seafood. Basho’s description of Matsushima takes on the air of a travelogue, which the book Oku no Hosomichi was intended, in part, to be.

“Islands upon island, islands are joined to islands, looking exactly like parents walking hand in hand with them. Pine trees are of the brightest green, their exquisite branches, bent by the constantly blowing wind. Indeed, the beauty of the scene can only be compared to the most divinely endowed feminine face, for who else could have created such beauty but Nature herself? My pen could hardly rise to the task of describing this divine creation.”

With no words of farewell, no regret, Basho says, “I left for Hiraizumi (back into the interior) on the twelfth (of June).” And, as sometimes happens, he lost his way.

A question for Zhungzi — are dreams better than reality?

Is the dream better
than reality, or
do we care about the truth?

All of this reminding me of the Demosthenes’ saying, “One believes not in the truth, but in what one wants to believe.”

Source: Takayanagi Katsuhiro, “A Journey Along the Destroyed Oku no Hosomichi (Narrow Road to the Deep North),” 2016.

Cree-ack

“Cree-ack” said the wind.

I have two rescue dogs (a bonded pair I call Lucy and Desi) who love to go out the kitchen door and come back in all day. Occasionally, I leave it ajar so they can go out and in on their own. If it is not wide enough, they will sit and stare, for they haven’t learned how to push. Then, to their amazement, there is a “creeack” as the wind opens it wide.

An open door policy is an invitation to flies, as my wife says.

“Cree-ack”
was the sound of the wind
as it opened the kitchen door

“Whizz” go the flies
who furiously flee
the swat of the swatter
— Bashō no yōna, Spring 2024

Nature’s Sound

“Cree-ack” is a high pitched sound like chalk on a chalkboard. It startles.

Matsuo Basho was captivated by the sounds of Nature. There is the familiar sound of the wind in the trees, the joyful sound of the birds in spring, and the cuckoo that always reminded him of Kyoto (a Proustian moment). Then too there was the famous sound of the water as the frog jumped in the pond — “kerplunk.”

Come out, come out

On the journey north, Oku no Hosomichi
Obanazawa, ancient Dewa Province,
The last week of May, Genroku 2, 1689

這ひ出でよ . 飼屋が下の . 蟇の声
hai ideyo . kaiya ga shita no . hiki no koe
come out, come out!
beneath the shed
you croaking toad

Finding One’s Voice

It is one month into the journey that would become immortalized in Oku no Hosomichi (a tarvelogue on a journey into Japan’s northern interior and along the coast). Matsuo Basho and his traveling companion Sora arrive in Obanazawa where they rest for ten days. Basho hears a croaking toad beneath a shed. Basho commands that he show his face.

But is he speaking of himself?

“Come out, come out where ever you are.”

“Come out,” the good witch Glenda sang in the Wizard of Oz. And so, the Munchkins came out of hiding to meet Dorothy from Kansas.

Playing hide and seek as a kid, there came the point when someone was caught and now, he or she was “it.” So, the call went out, “Come out, come out wherever you are!” and “ollie, ollie, in come free.”

Before his untimely death, Jim Croce, wrote and sang “I’ve got a name,” which also spoke of the croaking toad.

Basho is my name

Matsuo Basho already had a name, Basho. His pen name was taken from the banana tree that grew outside his cottage in the Fukagawa District of Edo. A banana tree, useless for the most part, since it did not bear fruit, nevertheless resilient for it weathered the storms, and occasionally providing shade.

Basho was, still, just finding his voice.

Better yet

Let us go one better. Three years earlier, when his disciples were gathered at his house, Basho wrote a haiku about a frog, a pond, and the sound of water.

An old pond,
a frog jumps in,
ah, the sound of water
Matsuo Basho, Basho-an, Spring 1686

Everyone and everything,
has a voice,
do you know yours?

Plop

Not Again

There are endless variations on Matsuo Basho’s frog/pond/sound of water haiku. Here is one more.

古池や蛙飛こむ水のをと

Furu ike ya | In an old pond
kawazu tobikomu | a frog leaps,
mizu no oto | — “Plop!” the sound of water
Matsuo Basho,

Scholars Say

Scholars say this haiku marked Basho’s coming of age. Written in 1686, Basho was now 46 years old, a mature poet, comfortable in his name, Basho, chosen because of the weather beaten banana tree that stood outside his cottage in the Fukagawa District, outside Edo.

Why We Love It

Maybe, the love of the puzzle lies in the fact the frog lets the water talk.

The fascination with Basho’s frog/pond haiku is never ending. A child is delighted with the surprise of walking along a pond and hearing the splash of water. A linguist considers the transformation of action into language, the water speaks. A physicist sees the transformation of matter into energy. A poet finds sonorous, the repetition of sound combined with the clear visual image. The spiritually inclined (both the Buddhist and the Christian, indeed all religion) finds something meaningful in the idea that life is ephemeral like a frog jumping into a pond, making a small splash, and disappearing. Basho could not know, but he had four more short years to live.

The Vocabulary of Water

Onomatopoeia — a word that sounds just like the thing it is describing. From the Greek, literally, ‘name’ plus ‘making’.

One listens to water coming out of the sink or shower; water boiling; water in a gentle creek, or roaring river; the sound of rain on the roof of a car as you drive; water in a puddle as you try to muddle along.

Water speaks in different ways:

“babble, bubble, burble, drip, drop, fizz, gargle, gurgle, gush, pitter-patter, plop, pop, ripple, roar, rush, slosh, splish-splash, splosh, splatter, sputter, swish, swirl, swoosh, or tinkle.”

Water speaks but it is also felt, as Helen Keller knew. And if the water is boiling hot, “Y’ouch!”

The Face of God

February 1688, Genroku 1
Mount Yamato Katsuragi, Nara Prefecture
Basho, Age 44

In May, on Mount Katsuragi, cherry trees and azalea bushes blossom, pink and red to crimson hues to grace the landscape.

The face of God is graced with grace and flowers

猶みたし花に明行神の顔

nao mitashi
hana ni ake yuku
kami no kao
Matsuo Basho, Notes from My Backpack, Spring 1688

nao (grace) mitashi (fulfill or gratify)
hana (flower) ni ake (bright, clear) yuku (likeness)
kami no kao (kami, a Shinto God, kao face)

1688

In Japan, it was the beginning of the reign of Emperor Higashiyama.

Japan would not have heard the news, but in 1688 the English Parliament deposed King James VI and replaced him with his daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange. This would later be called the Glorious Revolution.

Eight years living in a simple cottage in the Fukagawa District outside Edo, a trip now and then, and still, the wanderlust was there. So, in 1688, Basho returned to Ueno (his family home) for the Lunar New Year. As Spring began he returned to Nara prefecture where Saiygo had spent three years as a recluse. He stopped at Mount Yamato Katsuragi to visit the many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

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

God’s Face

1st year of Genroku,
Spring of 1688,
Basho is 45 years old,
Mt. Yamato Katsuragi

Always seeing within
a flower at the break of dawn
— the face of God
Matsuo Basho, Oi no kibumi, Spring 1685

From the travelogue, Oi no kobumi, a trip from Edo to Iga-Ueno (Basho’s hometown), then to Mt. Yamato Kasuragi in Nara prefecture. In Spring, Bashō came to Mt. Katsuragi to see the cherry blossoms. Near the Shinto shrine for the local god, Hitokotonushi, he wrote this haiku:

猶みたし花に明行神の顔

nao mitashi | always seeing within
hana ni ake yuku | a flower at the break of dawn
kami no kao | the face of God
Matsuo Basho, Oi no kibumi, Spring 1685

The ugly god

Hitokotonushi (一言主), literally, god of one word, meaning that as long as your prayer is short, god will listen to it.

There are several stories about Hitokotonushi-nokami, the god of Mt. Katsuragi. (Dr. Gabi Greve has collected many of them.) One is this: Hitokotonushi had a very ugly face. According to legend, a long time ago, a monk prayed for help, then began building a trail from Mt. Katsuragi to Mt. Kinpu (two Shinto holy sites). Hitokotonushi, embarrassed by his ugly appearance, would only help at night.

David Bowles calls Basho’s haiku “Longing for the Divine.”

And I could use Hitokotonushi’s help.

hana ni ake yuku (花に明行) has given me some trouble translating. First I would say that Goggle Translate gives one “Hana ni myōgyō” with no explanation of myōgyō. Literally, I come up with: hana (flower), but what of ni ake yuku — ni (within) ake (dawn) yuku. Does not 明に mean ‘brightly’? Or perfection? And does not 行くmean ‘going to a place.’

Seeing is believing, if not completely understanding, which is the first step in the “awakening”.

Like David Bowles I am longing for inspiration.

Sakai Hōitsu, Japanese
ca. 1805
detail of image from The Met

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.