Cluster Eighteen:
The Killing Stone

On the 16th day of the fourth month, Basho leaves Kurobane. Toshobo provides him with a horse and a guide, and it is this guide who unexpectedly asks him for a poem - already translated in the Fields of Nasu (2), because I found the haiku stone in Kurobane. Via Kuroiso (then the post stations of Nabekake and Koebori) Basho travels to Nasu Yumoto. In the afternoon he reaches the post station of Takaku. It is raining, and he stays here for the night, using a letter of introduction written by Joboji to the village headman, Takaku Kakuzaemon. Basho writes a haiku for his host:

falling down -
cuckoo's call
of Takaku Station

ochi-kuru ya | Takaku no shuku no | hototogisu

This is a poem of greeting (aisatsu) for Takaku Kakuzaemon. Takaku has a double meaning as it also means "high:" a cuckoo's call sounds high in the sky in the Takaku post station, so that it seems to be "falling down." Sora wrote a companion poem:

gazing through the trees
at the short night's rain

ko no ma wo nozoku | mijika yo na ame

The kuhi carrying these poems stands in Kofukuji, the family temple of Takaku Kakuzaemon, where also his grave is (30 min on foot from Kuroiso Station).

Basho spends the next night in Nasu Yumoto Onsen, taking the waters, where he writes the above haiku, which like the previous one, was not included in the Narrow Road. This, too, is a greeting, now of the hot spring and its shrine, Yuzen Daimyojin. Basho writes in his preface that the gods of Iwashimizu Hachimangu, a famous shrine just south of Kyoto, are also enshrined here in Yumoto, so that if he prays here, he prays at the same time to the gods of both shrines. Moreover, Iwashimizu, the name of the shrine in Kyoto, also means "spring water from the rocks," giving Basho the opportunity to compare the hot spring water of Yumoto with the cold spring water of Iwashimizu. The "vow" points at the vow by the deities to help people, and therefore also points at the deities themselves. Who thinks haiku are Zen-like poems of the passing moment? If ever there was some convoluted word play, it is here! We might paraphrase it as: "Scooping up hot water to rinse my mouth for purification here in the Nasu Yuzen Shrine, I pay my respects to gods who are the same as in the Iwashimizu Shrine in Kyoto, where the water is cold water sprung from the rocks."

The Nasu Yuzen Shrine was all the more interesting for Basho, because of its tie to one of his heroes from the Heike Monogatari, Nasu no Yoichi. In early 1185, forces led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune stormed the Taira fortress in Yashima. In a lull during the fierce battle, a small boat appeared from the Taira side, in which a young woman in gorgeous dress stood. She held a pole to which a fan was attached and seemed to challenge to Minamoto warriors whether they could shoot down the fan. Nasu no Yoichi rose to this challenge. He rode his horse into the water and took aim at the difficult target in the boat that bobbed up and down on the waves. Before delivering his shot, Yoichi prayed to Hachiman, the war god and also deity of the Yuzen Shrine in his native province. He let the arrow go and with one shot hit the fan. Thus he became known as a great archer and his success was already a sign of the coming defeat of the Taira forces. It is said that he donated the present stone torii to the Yuzen Shrine as an expression of his gratitude. Sora notes that he and Basho saw the fan from this story in the Yuzen shrine, besides several sets of arrows.

Chausudake in Nasu is an active volcano, which erupted as recently as 1963. The area around the mountain now has been developed in a not very nice fashion as a resort, with bungalows and Teddy Bear museums dotting the woods on its flanks. Nasu Yumoto is better: a small spa town with some historical inns. At the end of the spa town stands the Nasu Yumoto shrine, which we have already seen in the above section. And behind the shrine is a path, leading into a rocky valley where the Killing Stone is. Basho describes this as emitting poisonous vapors: "Dead bees, butterflies and other insects lie in heaps near it, hiding the color of the sand." Apparently, there is a vent here of the volcano through which sulphuric gasses escape.

Now the volcanic activity seems to have died down, for I cannot see any gasses escaping, nor is there the particular smell of sulphur. There are no dead insects, either. In fact, I have trouble deciding which is the Killing Stone, for behind a fence with signboard the mountain side is covered with an avalanche of stones. It is quiet here, but it is not a lonely spot, as there are various small groups of sightseers and hikers. Not far from the Killing Stone is an area where numerous small Jizo statues have been placed together, forming an eery spirit army...

Jizo statues

Surprisingly, Basho does not say much about the Killing Stone in the Narrow Road. He even skips the legend behind it. This is the story of Lady Tamamo, who was in reality a fox. After she had been forced to show her real, malicious nature she was shot but turned into a huge stone, the Killing Stone, which released poisonous gasses. Later the spirit of the lady had been released by Minamoto Okina Zenshi, who hit the rock with his staff and split it in several parts. That at least explains the existence of more than one stone... But since Basho still writes about poisonous vapors, the influence of the fox spirit seems not to have been blocked completely.

The straightforward haiku does not appear in the Narrow Road, but was copied by Sora, like the previous one. It has been carved in a large stele, which stands next to the Killing Stone.

On the twentieth of the fourth month, Basho in the morning sets out from Nasu Yumoto and heads for the Ashino post station. In this area, he also pays a visit to a famous willow tree.

Saigyo, Basho's great poetic example as a wanderer-poet, is known for a poem about a willow beside a stream of clear water, where the poet paused for a moment. This poem became the inspiration for the Noh play Yugyo Yanagi, where a priest meets the spirit of the (now withered) willow, and hears how Saigyo once came here and composed a famous poem. At the end the priest offers prayers to the spirit of the willow to ensure its salvation. Now Basho in his turn comes to the willow (he had been advised to visit it by the local ruler) and stops for a while in its shadow, thinking about Saigyo and the Noh play.

Basho continues his journey after "one paddy has been planted," and leaves the willow behind as an embodiment of the spirit of Saigyo, even in a remote place like this. The question is: who does the planting? It is usually assumed that peasant girls happen to be busy in the fields around the willow. Basho looks on for a while, meditating on Saigyo, and then leaves. But it is also possible that Basho himself joins in the planting as a salute to the spirit of Saigyo, his poetic mentor.

Basho next continues to the Shirakawa barrier, the entrance to Michinoku.