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- Oku no Hosomichi - 奥の細道 - おくのほそ道
The Narrow Road to the Deep North -
. Oku no Hosomichi - 奥の細道 - Introduction .
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- - - Station 5 - Nikko 日光 - - -
I lodged in an inn at the foot of Mount Nikko on the night of March the thirtieth. The host of my inn introduced himself as Honest Gozaemon, and told me to sleep in perfect peace on his grass pillow, for his sole ambition was to be worthy of his name. I watched him rather carefully but found him almost stubbornly honest, utterly devoid of worldly cleverness. It was as if the merciful Buddha himself had taken the shape of a man to help me in my wandering pilgrimage. Indeed, such saintly honesty and purity as his must not be scorned, for it verges closely on the perfection preached by Confucius.
On the first day of April l3, I climbed Mt. Nikko to do homage to the holiest of the shrines upon it. This mountain used to be called Niko. When the high priest Kukai built a temple upon it, however, he changed the name to Nikko, which means the bright beams of the sun. Kukai must have had the power to see a thousand years into the future, for the mountain is now the seat of the most sacred of all shrines, and its benevolent power prevails throughout the land, embracing the entire people, like the bright beams of the sun. To say more about the shrine would be to violate its holiness.
It is with awe
That I beheld
Fresh leaves, green leaves,
Bright in the sun.
Mount Kurokami was visible through the mist in the distance. It was brilliantly white with snow in spite of its name, which means black hair.
Rid of my hair,
I came to Mount Kurokami
On the day we put on
Clean summer clothes.
--written by Sora
My companion's real name is Kawai Sogoro, Sora being his pen name. He used to live in my neighborhood and help me with such chores as bringing water and firewood. He wanted to enjoy the views of Matsushima and Kisagata with me, and also to share with me the hardships of the wandering journey. So he took to the road after taking the tonsure on the very morning of our departure, putting on the black robe of an itinerant priest, and even changing his name to Sogo, which means Religiously Enlightened. His poem, therefore, is not intended as a mere description of Mount Kurokami. The last determination to persist in his purpose.
After climbing two hundred yards or so from the shrine, I came to a waterfall, which came pouring out of a hollow in the ridge and tumbled down into a dark green pool below in a huge leap of several hundred feet. The rocks of the waterfall were so carved out that we could see it from behind, though hidden ourselves in a craggy cave. Hence its nickname, See-from-behind.
Silent a while in a cave,
I watched a waterfall
For the first of
The summer observances
Tr. by Nobuyuki Yuasa
source : terebess.hu/english
仏五左衛門
卅日、日光山の梺に泊る。あるじの云けるやう、「我名を佛五左衛門と云。萬正直を旨とする故に人かくは申侍まゝ、一夜の草の枕も打解て休み給へ」と云。いかなる仏の濁世塵土に示現して、かゝる桑門の乞食順礼ごときの人をたすけ給ふにやとあるじのなす事に心をとゞめてみるに、唯無智無分別にして正直偏固の者也。剛毅木訥の仁に近きたぐひ気禀の清質尤尊ぶべし。
卯月朔日、御山に詣拝す。往昔、此御山を「二荒山」と書しを空海大師開基の時「日光」と改給ふ。千歳未来をさとり給ふにや。 今此御光一天にかゞやきて恩沢八荒にあふれ、四民安堵の栖穏なり。猶憚多くて筆をさし置ぬ。
あらたうと青葉若葉の日の光
黒髪山は霞かゝりて、雪いまだ白し。
剃捨て黒髪山に衣更 曾良 - Sora
曾良は河合氏にして、 惣五郎と云へり芭蕉の下葉に軒をならべて予が薪水の労をたすく。このたび松しま象潟の眺共にせん事を悦び、且は羈旅の難をいたはらんと旅立暁髪を剃て墨染にさまをかえ惣五を改て宗悟とす。仍て黒髪山の句有。「衣更」の二字力ありてきこゆ。
廿餘丁山を登つて瀧有。岩洞の頂より飛流して百尺千岩の碧潭に落たり。 岩窟に身をひそめて入て]滝の裏よりみれば、うらみの瀧と申傳え侍る也。
暫時は瀧に篭るや夏の初
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あらたふと青葉若葉の日の光
ara tooto aoba wakaba no hi no hikari
so holy:
green leaves, young leaves,
in sun's light
Tr. David Landis Barnhill
Comment by Barnhill:
Basho is at Mt. Nikkoo, which literally means "sun's light." It is the site of an ancient Buddhist temple established by Kuukai as well as a Shinto shrine [Tosho Shrine] and mausoleum of the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, Ieyasu (1542-1616). The original version reads:
"so holy: / down even to the darkness beneath the trees, / the sun's light"
('ara tooto / ko no shitayami mo / hi no hikari').
hi no hikari 日の光 / Nikkoo 日光
. WKD : Basho in Nikko - Introduction .
with more translations of this famous poem in various languages.
The Basho Haiku Stone Monument in Nikko / 日光の句碑
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しばらくは瀧にこもるや夏の初め
shibaraku wa taki ni komoru ya ge no hajime
for a while
I will sit behind the waterfall -
summer retreat begins
Tr. Gabi Greve
Read another hokku about
Urami no taki 裏見の滝 - 裏見の瀧 "Back- view waterfall"
near Nikko, with a cave behind the waterfall for mountain ascetic practises.
. ango 安吾 (あんご) intensive retreat .
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Hotoke Gozaemon 仏五左衛門 Honest Gozaemon
- source : www.bashouan.com
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. Nikko Toshogu Shrine 日光の東照宮 Nikkō Tōshō-gū .
with the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 . (1543 - 1616)
.
During the time of Basho, this Shrine was off limits for normal people. So Basho must have had a special permit from a high-ranking official in the government.
Speculation says
Basho (and his companion Sora) in 1689 had the secret order to check about the repair work of the buildings, carried out by the 伊達藩 Date clan of Sendai, after an earthquake in 1683 had damaged the Shrine.
The Bakufu government had ordered the Date clan, to have it spent a lot of money on the repair and thus not be able to spent money on preparing another war . . .
Date Masamune even donated a pair of special metal lanterns 南蛮鉄燈籠, which he had gotten from Portugal, placed in front of the stone steps to the Yommei-Mon gate.
By the way, two more lanterns were made from bronze 唐銅灯, dedicated by the lord of Shimazu. 島津家久 .
After visiting Nikko, Basho was on his way to Sendai to check out more about the Date clan.
He must have had a lot on his mind, since he did not write many haiku until he had left Sendai. He even passed Matsushima . . .
... おそらく、芭蕉は、日光の修復の状況及び伊達藩のその後の動きを偵察する目的を持っていた ...
- reference : shibayan1954.blog10 -
. Was Basho a ninja or onmitsu spy? .
Onmitsu : Oku no Hosomichi 隠密 - 奥の細道
Sora, Kawai Sora 河合曾良
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