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Terayama Shuji (1935-1983) was Japan’s infant-terrible of the sixties of the last century. Genius, avant-gardist, iconoclast, photographer, director, playwright, novelist, filmmaker, cultural critic and poet. In his time, his work incited scandal and outrage. Today, he is a cult hero. In his all-too short life, he wrote 200 literary works and made 20 short and [...]

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The Japan Times feautures an interview with another cultural icon, architect Isozaki Arata (famous for such buildings as the Gunma Museum of Modern Art, the Hara Museum ARC, the Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art in Okayama, the Oita Art Plaza, and the Art Tower Mito etc). On July 27, the Hara Museum ARC in Gunma [...]

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In Fushimi today we came across a small temple called Saiganji or more popularly Aburakake Jizo. That means “Jizo covered with oil” and there is of course a story behind it.

[Saiganji, Kyoto - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]
Saiganji was founded in 1590 by Unkai. Once upon a time, an oil merchant from Yamazaki stumbled in [...]

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The haiku-poet Kobayashi Issa was born in Kashiwabara, in the northern part of Nagano Prefecture, and after a life as wandering poet, he lived there again during his last years. As a devout Pure Land Buddhist Issa often visited Zenkoji, and he wrote numerous poems in which the temple figures. The City of Nagano has [...]

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Basho was born in the castle town of Iga-Ueno, in the Kansai area, but at a young age settled in Edo. He made several trips back to western Japan and then also often visited the Nara area or Yamatoji as it is called in Japanese. In 1684 he visited Yoshino and the next year he [...]

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We are with Basho on (almost) the last leg of his Narrow Road and enter Toyama from Niigata.

[Fresh rice plants. Photo © Ad Blankestijn]
fragrance of rice
wading into it
on my right the Rough Sea
wase no ka ya | wakeiru migi wa | Ariso Umi

This is the only haiku Basho wrote in Toyama. Ariso no Umi, the [...]

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passing through this world
is like taking shelter
for a winter drizzle
yo ni furu wa | sara ni shigure no | yadori ka na
Sogi (1421-1502)
Hakone Yumoto is the oldest part of Hakone. Already in the Kamakura period it had developed into a spa town and that is still its major characteristic. Conveniently, it is also a traffic [...]

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Several of the haiku Basho wrote on the Sumida River have been printed on text boards standing along a path skirting the river in Tokyo’s Koto Ward. This is the part of Tokyo where Basho lived since 1680, a fact commemorated in the Basho Museum, which also stands here. Thanks to the Oedo line, access [...]

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Issa (1763-1828) was born in Kashiwabara, in the snow country in the north of present-day Nagano and was a devout follower of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. He led a life full of misfortunes and poverty, but his haiku often describe the simple joys he also found. Issa is famous for his empathy with small animals, even [...]

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fallen kaki leaves
under my feet
I visit Entsuji
kaki rakuba | fumite tazunenu | Entsuji
Kyoshi
Entsuji Temple boasts one of the most secluded and fine gardens of Kyoto, and the strict priest keeps photographers and loud groups of sightseers at a distance.

[Kaki tree in Ueda, Nagano]
The modern haiku poet Kyoshi also visited Entsuji, in autumn, when the area [...]

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moon, look sad,
as I will tell the story
of Akechi’s wife
tsuki sabiyo | Akechi ga tsuma no | hanashisen
Basho

Basho admired the wife of one Yugen of Ise, with whom he once lodged. The haiku master was very well taken care of during his stay and he used this haiku to praise Yugen’s wife. The poem refers [...]

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When you say Kyoto, you say Gion, the traditional pleasure quarter at the foot of the Yasaka Shrine. Although Hanamikoji, the street south of Shijodori starting with the Ichiriki Teahouse, may be most the most famous part of Gion, there is also a nice section north of Shijodori, along the Shirakawa Canal. Here the protruding [...]

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Basho visited Kurobane in 1689 during the first stage of his trek to northern Japan. Two of his disciples - brothers - were living here (one of them was the steward of the feudal lord of the small castle town of Kurobane) and Basho stayed here for a full 14 days, the longest break on [...]

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The Basho Memorial Museum in Iga-Ueno was built in 1959 as a tribute to the haiku master by the town where he was born in 1644 and where he returned several times in later life, both for family visits and to have haikai sessions with local poets. For the haiku enthusiast, it is a small, [...]

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Joroku Buddha statue
heat haze high
above the stone
joroku ni | kagero takashi | ishi no ue
Basho
I have already written about Narita Shinshoji Temple, and also introduced the museums in the temple grounds in Narita museums). Now I visit the haiku stones in the temple and first come to a kuhi by Basho, standing in green grass. [...]

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passing the torii gate
made of grave stones
Month without Gods
ranto no | torii ya ge ni mo | kannazuki
Kikaku
Another Haiku stone I found on Mt Koya. This one is difficult to explain. The general meaning is: although there are torii gates (a symbol of Shinto shrines) in front of the graves, they have been built of [...]

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how much I miss
my father and mother
call of a pheasant
chichi haha no | shikirini koishi | kiji no koe
Basho
This haiku stone stands suitably on the huge ancient graveyard of Mt Koya, the spiritual home in the next world of all Japanese.
In Japanese folklore, the pheasant was believed to have a special affection for its babies. [...]

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In 1680, Basho moved from Nihonbashi - right in the bustling center of Edo - to a small country house in Fukagawa. Here he started new haikai activities. Away from the city with its endless rounds of linked verse (renga) sessions where he acted as referee (which brought a reasonable income), now he was free [...]

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my hometown
I feel like talking
to apricot and willow
furusato ya | ume ni yanagi ni | hanashi ari
Shirao

The hometown in this haiku is the small but attractive castle town of Ueda, located between Karuizawa and Nagano. The town was propelled to fame in the late 16th c. when a much smaller army of defenders under Sanada [...]

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to the Unveiling
even sparrows come
with the whole family
Kaicho ni | au ya suzume mo | oyako tsure
Issa
Nagano, the capital city of the mountainous prefecture of the same name, is - in contrast to most other prefectural capitals - not a former castle town. Instead of being an administrative center, in the past it was a [...]

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tempted to knock the gate
of the Temple of the Three August Wells
today’s moon
Miidera no | mon tatakabaya | kyo no tsuki
Basho
Miidera, the “Temple of the Three August Wells,” officially called Onjoji, is a major Tendai temple at the shore of Lake Biwa. Basho loved this area and often stayed here for a longer time - [...]

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good-bye now,
I go snow viewing
till tumbling over
iza saraba | yukimi ni korobu | tokoro made
Basho
This charming haiku was composed at a snow viewing party at the house of one Yudo, a bookseller in Nagoya, on December 3, 1687 (January 5, 1688 in our calendar). Basho may have written the poem after the meeting when he [...]

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by wintry blasts
the rocks are sharpened
through the cedars
kogarashi ni | iwa fukitogaru | sugima kana
Basho
Basho visited Horaizan in 1691, after his long trek to northern Japan and his subsequent stay in Shiga Prefecture to recuperate. As usual, he was accompanied by a group of local haiku enthusiasts, led by one Hakusetsu. At noon they reached [...]

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yellow roses
fragrance of Uji tea
coming from the drier
yamabuki ya | Uji no hoiro no | niou toki
Basho
Tea leaves give off a nice fragrance when they are being dried or roasted. Basho is in the tea producing area of Uji and while he looks at some yamabuki roses, the fresh smell of tea on the drier [...]

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taking off one garment
I sling it over my shoulder
clothes changing day
hitotsu nugite | ushiro ni oinu | koromogae
Basho
There were (and are!) fixed days in Japan for changing into lighter clothes when the weather gets warmer (April 1 in the Edo period) and changing back to thicker clothes in autumn. This is called koromogae, but such [...]

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