Posted in Japan, writing and poetry, museums, haiku on Sep 14th, 2006 No Comments »
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, […]
Posted in writing and poetry, travel and places, haiku on Sep 12th, 2006 No Comments »
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. […]
Posted in temples on Sep 10th, 2006 No Comments »
For non-Japanese, the most powerful symbols of Japan are Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion, the red Shinto gate of the Itsukushima Shrine standing in the sea near Miyajima, and the Great Buddha of Kamakura, a bronze giant sitting in the open air. These sights have been countless times reproduced on front covers of guidebooks. And thanks to […]
Posted in writing and poetry, travel and places, haiku on Sep 9th, 2006 No Comments »
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 […]
Posted in writing and poetry, travel and places, haiku on Sep 7th, 2006 No Comments »
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. […]
Posted in writing and poetry, museums, haiku on Sep 5th, 2006 No Comments »
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 […]
Posted in writing and poetry, travel and places, haiku on Sep 3rd, 2006 No Comments »
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 […]
Posted in temples on Sep 2nd, 2006 1 Comment »
Muro, deep in the countryside of southern Nara prefecture, is a sacred mountain, a place ordinary mortals in the past were not allowed to enter. The River Muro flows here, a tributary of the River Uda, and when following it upstream, the traveler enters a land of strange rocks and weird crags. This dramatic scenery […]
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