05/06/2012

Tsuboi Tokoku

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- Tsuboi Tokoku 坪井杜国 -

? - 1690.4.28 - ?元禄3.3.20 ? 2月20日)
承応二年(1653)~元禄三年(1690)
The dates are varying.

He was only 34 when he died.


Tokoku was from Nagoya. His name was Shoobei 庄兵衛.
He was a grain merchant and ward supervisor in Misono Ward 御園町.

In 1684 he became a disciple of Basho, but in the following year he was banned from Nagoya (because of some fraud) and moved to the village Hobi 保美村 at the Hobi peninsula in Aichi.
貞亨2年8月19日


He traveled with Basho for a while, even to Yoshino and Mount Koya, as written in

. 笈の小文 Oi no Kobumi. .

During these trips he used the name 南彦左衛門 and 野人 or 野仁.


He had a very friendly and probably special male relationship with Basho.
Basho used to call him by his boyhood name, 万菊丸 Mangikumaru.

Even after his death, Basho dreamed about him and shed tears.

此ものを夢に見ること謂所念夢也
夢の中で杜国を思い出し、涙で目がさめた


Basho also wrote this hokku about their relationship, when he spent a night in Toyohashi talking with his disciple Etsujin 越人:

寒けれど二人寝る夜ぞたのもしき
samukeredo futari neru yoru zo tanomoshiki

even if it is cold
sleeping together on such a night
is quite a pleasure




. nanshoku、danshoku 男色 homosexuality in the Edo period .   


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Basho also longed for his friend:

By the middle of the second month, I longed to depart for Yoshino, where cherries already blossomed in my memory. A friend, Tokoku, promised to join me in my journey, and we met at Ise.

"No home in the world - we are two wanderers"

吉野にて桜見せうぞ檜木笠
. Yoshino nite sakura mishoo zo hinoki-gasa .


It won't be long till
you'll see Yoshino cherries,
my bark-woven hat!



Mangiku-maru wrote:

It won't be long till
I show my bark-woven hat
to Yoshino cherries!



Narrow Road to the Interior and other writings
By Matsuo Basho / Tr. Sam Hamill
source : books.google.co.jp



. Basho in Yoshino 吉野 .


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Oi no Kobumi 笈の小文. Written on December 14, 1677
When visiting Tokoku 杜国 in Mikawa, Toyohashi. 三河豊橋。

Basho at the home of Tokoku wrote

. go o taite tenugui aburu samusa kana .


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In 1685, Basho age 42, Tokoku age 30 :

白芥子に羽もぐ蝶の形見哉
白げしにはねもぐ蝶の形見哉
shirageshi ni hane mogu choo no katami kana

for this white poppy
the butterfly tears off its wings
as a keepsake . . .

Tr. Gabi Greve

Here Basho sees Tokoku as a white poppy and himself as a parting butterfly. This is a strong expression of his feelings toward Tokoku.
This combination of flower and animal is quite unusual.

This hokku has the cut marker KANA at the end of line 3.

On the 19th day of the 8th lunar month in this year, Tokoku had to go into exile.


Read more comments about this hokku by Ueda:
source : http://books.google.co.jp


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His grave is at the temple Rinkoozan Choo-onji 潮音寺 Cho-on Ji.

愛知県渥美郡田原市福江の 隣江山潮音寺


His most important hokku

朝月夜紙干板に明そめて

つゝみかねて月とり落す霽かな (『冬の日』)
曙の人顔牡丹霞にひらきけり (『春の日』)

足跡に櫻を曲る庵二つ (『春の日』)

馬はぬれ牛ハ夕日の村しぐれ (『春の日』)

この比の氷ふみわる名残かな (『春の日』)

吉野いでて布子売りたしころもがへ (『笈の小文』)

麥畑の人見るはるの塘かな (『あら野』)

霜の朝せんだんの實のこぼれけり (『あら野』)

八重がすみ奥迄見たる竜田哉 (『あら野』)

芳野出て布子賣おし更衣 (『あら野』)

散花にたぶさ恥けり奥の院 (『あら野』)

こがらしの落葉にやぶる小ゆび哉 (『あら野』)

木履はく僧も有けり雨の花 (『あら野』)

似合しきけしの一重や須广の里(『猿蓑』)
source : itoyo/basho


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- - - - - Matsuo Basho wrote for Tokoku:

まづ祝へ梅を心の冬籠り
mazu iwae ume o kokoro no fuyu-gomori

Anyway celebrate I will
This winter hibernation
With apricot blossoms in my heart.

Tr. Takafumi Saito

Written in 貞亨4年, Basho age 44

Tokoku had been put in exile for a crime he did not even commit. So if he would stay in hiding maybe next spring things will turn out better.


. WKD : fuyugomori 冬篭り winter confinement, winter isolation, wintering .



さればこそ荒れたきままの霜の宿
sareba koso aretaki mama no shimo no yado

well indeed
just a wild, rough home
in the frost


The living conditions of Tokoku were even worse than Basho had expected.

Emotions expressed by Basho :
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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Basho was visiting Iragozaki, a place famous for its hawks.

His disciple Tsuboi Tokoku 坪井杜国 (? - 1690) lived there.
This hokku shows his pleasure of meeting his friend, who had been in exile since about 1 year and a half earlier.

Barnhill describes Tokoku as having
"moved to Irago after suffering financial difficulties."

夢よりも現の鷹ぞ頼もしき 
. yume yori mo utsutsu no taka zo tanomoshiki .


At Iragozaki, Tokoku also wrote

うれしさは葉がくれ梅の一つかな


行く秋も伊良古をさらぬ鴎かな


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Homepage of temple Cho-on Ji
source : plala.or.jp/rikan



俳人杜国 供養祭  平成24年4月25日(水)

Every year on the 25th of April there is a memorial service for Tokoku with a haiku meeting.


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. Cultural Keywords used by Basho .

. - Persons introduced by Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - .


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