Encountering Basho at Arashiyama

Posted by Tito on December 18, 2022

(Hailstone Exhibition Visit and Ginko, Dec. 3, 2022: report by Jun Tsutsumi & Stephen Gill)

野ざらし紀行図巻 The Nozarashi Kikō Zukan, “Records of a Weather-exposed Skeleton,” Basho’s scroll of the first of his great haibun journeys made in 1684-5, is the only one known with both paintings and calligraphy from the master poet’s brush. A year or so ago the rare scroll had come to light for the first time in more than half a century. It is a startling piece of work.

Click respective photos to enlarge. 上 Narutaki in Kyoto (pagoda of Ninnaji vis. top lt.), 下 Potato-washing woman at Yoshino (Yoshimizu Jinja vis. on lt.)

Bright autumn leaves
through the train window –
getting drunk on them! … (Harumi)

On a crisp December morning, fifteen Hailstone poets gathered to view the scroll at the Fukuda Museum of Art. Even as the streets near Arashiyama station were already dense with late-autumn crowds, the 14-meter scroll was mostly ours to enjoy alone in the quiet of the exhibition room.

After fifty years wandering,
‘The Weather-exposed Skeleton’
at home in autumn hills … (Ayako)

Basho’s beautiful calligraphy and paintings took us with him on his journey from Edo to his hometown of Iga Ueno; and, thereafter, around the area of Japan that we know best, Kansai. The sensibility of his paintings of some of the places he visited added a new dimension to his well-known haibun itself and the poems it contains.

明けぼのやしら魚しろきこと一寸Akebono ya / shirauo shiroki / koto issun

Before sunrise…
young icefish flashing white,
each but one inch long … (Basho, trans. SHG)

The exhibition also featured works by Yosa Buson and Ito Jakuchu, which made for an abundant morning of art.

Inviting me to view
Basho’s ‘Bleached Bones’ travelogue,
‘Two Skulls’ by Jakuchu … (Akishige)

We walked out into gentle sunlight just after noon. Some of us enjoyed lunch together at the nearby Nakagawa restaurant, while others departed on errands or for home.

Hot rod cars
rev at the bridge –
a tinted Mt. Atago … (Tito)

a stretch of tourists
along the riverbank
autumn colors … (Duro*)

We reunited at the southern end of Togetsu Bridge for a haiku composition stroll (ginko) along the winding riverside path leading past Tonase Cascade all the way up to 大悲閣千光寺Daihikaku Senkōji Temple. The clear skies and gentle light cast the hills in rich hues, with views of Mt. Atago, Mt. Ogura, the Saga Hills, and even distant Mt. Hiei beyond the still waters of the Ōi River, dotted with rowboats.

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tracing in my mind
the lines of Basho’s brush:
our riverside stroll … (Jun)

Winter calm –
on this water they know so well
here and there, wild ducks … (Masahiro*)

Our Basho Day feeling
more like a year:
floating into a trench
coloured leaves … (Tomiko)

The crowds receded further and further into the distance as we approached the steps leading up to the Temple, which Basho had once visited.

花の山二町ぼれば大悲閣 Hana no yama / nichō noboreba / Daihikaku
Two hundred yards
up a mountainside of blooming cherry…
Great Mercy Temple … (Basho, trans. SHG)

There is a kuhi (poem monument) near the beginning of the climb.

Basho’s stele –
red maple seekers, beckoned
to worn stone steps … (Akihiko)

Those who made it up to the temple itself, were able to pray before the ancient Kannon statue, then view another (much wilder!) one of 角倉了以 Suminokura Ryoi, the ‘Renaissance man’ who had set up a trading network in Southeast Asia for Toyotomi Hideyoshi as well as creating navigable waterways in and around Kyoto, and who had spent his last days here as a recluse.

A monk with a broom …
trying hard not to sweep up too
the late afternoon moon … (Tito)

The view back over the city was spectacular, as were the fading late autumn colours. Someone rang the temple bell.

Arashiyama –
your perfect autumn tints
now, as long ago … (Hiroko)

the wharf at dusk –
autumn pleasure-seekers’ backs
file away … (Akihiko)

Basho’s journey
continues into dream –
my warm futon … (Yaeno)

N.B. The Exhibition finishes at the Fukuda Museum on 9 Jan. 2023; the painting of Basho below is in the Exhibition and is by Yosa Buson; Duro & Masahiro sent their haiku in later and were not actually present at the event.

Seeking Buson

Posted by Tito on February 10, 2019

click on any picture to enlarge

.. Approaching a shaft of light in the winter grey of the Japan Sea at Miyazu, I came across some wild ducks sleeping in a loch. The pine-clad isthmus, Amanohashidate (the Bridge of Heaven), stretched on, pointing towards Buson’s Temple, a rickety shack at the back of the town – Kenshōji 見性寺.

.. At the gate, a sign with a haiku on:

…….. 楠の根を静かにぬらす時雨哉
.. kusu no ne o shizuka ni nurasu shigure kana
…….. The roots of the camphor
…….. being quietly wet …
…….. passing winter rain

.. With that image in mind, I stepped through into the precincts, soon to be greeted by resident priest, Umeda Jikō, gaunt and smiley.
.. “Have you come for Buson?”, he asked.

.. Shoes off – how cold the floor! Respectfully offering a prayer before the Amida Buddha there, we turned to an improvised display of things from Buson’s time in Miyazu, including two or three remarkable paintings – not haiga, but nanga – of what I took to be Chinese immortals. But which immortals? And why the mysterious plumes of white breath? Do they indicate a type of energy (qi 気) perhaps? Or it is just that the air was cold (seeing one’s breath)? For a moment, I focused in front of my mouth and … sure enough, my breath was visible, too!

.. Buson had come to Miyazu in 1754, aged 39, to stay with his friend, the priest of Kenshōji, Chikkei 竹渓 (barefoot on left in the picture below by Buson). He spent much of the next few years there, participating in a haiku circle, changing his family name from Taniguchi to Yosa (a village by the Bridge of Heaven) and taking a local wife, Tomo, who soon gave birth to a daughter, Kuno. In Miyazu, he also developed his skill as a painter, turning to this profession when he eventually returned to Kyoto. I wondered if the assured brushwork of the paintings in the temple might just be that of a senior painter at the time, with whom he was studying. One of the paintings has a signature, the second character of which looked like the kei 渓 of Chikkei 竹渓, but the first is not recognizable and is surely not chiku 竹 bamboo.

.. As I left the temple, Jikō turned to me and said, ‘Next time, please stay.’

……………… Puffing out
……………… towards the valley-head moon …
……………… my white breath

P.S. If anyone has an idea who the breathy mountain men are in the pictures, or who might have painted them, please leave a comment below. It didn’t seem as if Jikō himself was sure.

Kompukuji Ginkō

Posted by Richard Donovan on December 17, 2016

Kompukuji (金福寺), near Keizan Ichijōji Station in Higashiyama, Kyoto, was founded in 864, and is the site of the Bashō-an (芭蕉庵), a hut that the poet visited in 1670 and that was afterwards dedicated to him. Yosa Buson (与謝蕪村) and his disciples helped restore the hut in 1760. On Buson’s death in 1783, his disciples erected a tomb on the hill overlooking Bashō-an and its adjacent well. Thus this little-known temple is something of a mecca for poets!

We were fortunate, then, that it was quiet on the Saturday afternoon (3 December) when we 15 Hailstones visited, led by Tito. We were able to take our time, even sitting on the engawa (perching boards) of the hut to compose our responses. The guest of honour was Maeve O’Sullivan of Haiku Ireland.

… Thatched with water reeds
… topped with maple leaves –
… Basho-an, the poet’s hut Maeve

… Peeling shōji –
… a corner thumbtack
… holds sway Albie

Perhaps it was the fact that the autumnal leaves were a little past their prime that staved off the crowds, but we were still surrounded by rich golden and scarlet hues, the light-blue sky above and the soft greens of the moss at our feet forming a poignant contrast.

… Maple leaves
… dying beautifully Branko

… Lantern of Kompukuji’s
… soft stillness –
… lichen dresses you Christine

… Footpaths through shadows
… leave the bright colors behind –
… Buson’s resting place Peter

… A high wire fence
… Through burning maple leaves –
… No deer by the gate Tito

… Framed by the temple gate
… Deer and mountain silhouette –
… The sinking sun
… shika nagara / saneimon ni / iru hi kana
This was Buson’s original, alluded to above in Tito’s haiku.

After our extended visit to the temple, we repaired to Café Anone, near the train station, joined by co-organiser Ursula for coffee and cake and the recital of haiku and haibun.

[Notes: ginkō – composition stroll; shōji – paper window screens]

212 new Buson haiku discovered!

Posted by Tito on October 18, 2015

Tenri Library (near Nara) announced on 14 Oct. that they had discovered two new books of original haiku by Yosa Buson: one volume of Spring & Summer poems, the other of Autumn & Winter ones. Altogether, they contain just over 1,900 haiku, of which 212 are previously unknown! The name of the missing collection is Yahantei Buson Kushu. ‘Yahantei’ (Midnight Teahouse) was an alias inherited from his teacher, Hajin, which, later in his life, he used alongside his better-known one of ‘Buson’ (Turnip Village). Above is the first page of the Spring volume, bearing critical marks said to have been made by the poet himself. The book was once owned by his Kyoto disciple, Hyakuchi. They will go on show at the Library, along with many other Buson-related works, until Nov. 8. Hailstone is planning a trip there on Oct. 25 (Sun.). Free entry. Contact SHG (Tito) for details, or leave a message in the reply/comments box below.

To put the find into some sort of context, Stephen was interviewed over the phone by BBC Radio 4 on 16th and you can hear the resultant 3-4 min. passage in the arts programme, ‘Front Line’, (available on the i-player: wait until it has loaded, then fast forward to 17:48′) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06gxysv.

One of the new haiku is:

傘も化て目のある月夜哉
karakasa mo bakete me no aru tsukiyo kana

The torn paper umbrella
has just become a ghoul …
with moonlit eyes!

(trans. SHG)

Sumiya Visit and Haibun Reading

Posted by Tito on December 9, 2014

Morning, Nov. 15, 2014. Some Hailstone poets, with special guest, Maggie Chula, on a visit from Oregon, were given a lengthy tour of Kyoto’s largest and finest ageya, Sumiya, in Shimabara district. Our enthusiastic guide was Mr. Kiyo Nakagawa, whose family has owned the huge wooden banqueting establishment since 1641, a few years before Basho was born. The 7th proprietor, Tokuya, was a member of Buson’s haikai circle. With his poet friends, Buson used to come here quite often to eat and relax in the company of geishas and taiyu (geisha queens). He thought of it as his ‘Peach Blossom Spring’. As a result, the house owns several Buson paintings and documents, a few of which we were shown.

g l e a m
of black polished pillars —
the entertainment house
(Kyoko Nozaki)

The exquisite aesthetics of the era were to be enjoyed in every room, including the enormous kitchen. One can now only imagine the taste of the dishes prepared there and then served on beautiful lacquer trays to the merry guests. When we finally emerged for a view of the garden, we could not believe that a full two hours had passed. Once our frozen toes had revived, we walked off briskly to a lunch in the autumnal Umenokouji Park nearby.

Of the initial 16 participants, 4 now disappeared and, at Ryukoku University’s beautiful Meiji period Omiya campus, we were joined by Icebox assistant editor, Gerald (aka Duro Jaiye) from Singapore and the Stamm sisters from Seattle. John Dougill welcomed us there in the seminar room. Some Buson haiku were shared before settling into a haibun session. Pieces read included A Visit to Uji by Buson and the 2014 Genjuan Haibun Grand Prix-winning, Well of Beauty, by Margaret Chula. Others who read their haibun included Ursula Maierl, Hisashi Miyazaki, Richard Steiner, Duro Jaiye and Tito.

There was some inter-esting discuss-ion of the quite separate developments of Japanese and English haibun traditions, but somehow we all came to feel that Buson would not have felt out-of-place in our company that day.