{Inter} Cultural Japan

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 juncture where the Odakyu line ends and the Hakone Railway starts.

At first sight Sounji temple looks rather out of place among the spa hotels and onsen bustle. It was established in 1521 to the memory of a local daimyo, Hojo Soun (1432-1519) and continued as the family temple of the Hojo clan from Odawara. The present structures are more recent, they mostly date from 1790 - Hideyoshi camped here in 1590 on his way to attack the Hojo and his army left the place in ruins. The temple stands in pleasantly mossy grounds and exudes a quiet and contemplative atmosphere.

The main gate sits on the Old Tokaido and is a simple gate in a style common in the Kanto area in the 16th c. The plaque with the mountain name of the temple was written in 1632 or 1655 by a Korean ambassador who passed here on his way to Edo. Appropriately, it reads Kintozan or “Golden Bath Mountain,” undoubtedly referring to the watery pleasures of Hakone Yumoto. Next follows the Chumon, the middle gate, which is part of the white wall encircling the temple. The temple proper today only consists of the Hojo or Priest’s Quarters, the Kuri or Kitchen and the Bellfry. Behind the Hojo (which can not be entered - a pity as it boasts a painting of a Dragon and Tiger ascribed to Kano Motonobu) lies a nice garden, you can just see it from a corner at the back of the building.

To the side of the temple is also a grave momument dedicated to Sogi (1421-1502), the poet who wrote the present haiku and who died here in Hakone, in a temple that was the predecessor of Sounji. Sogi was on the way from Echigo to Mino with two of his disciples, when he fell ill and died on 30th day of the 7th month of 1502.

The poetry stone stands in front of the Main Hall and is crowned by a stone in the shape of a hat - just like the profile of a traveler of old. This is no coincidence as the poet Sogi who wrote the present haiku was an inveterate traveler who spent most of his time on the road and even became a role model for Basho. Sogi was a Buddhist priest and the geatest writer of renga (linked verse) of his time. Born in humble circumstances, he first served as a Zen monk in Kyoto before becoming a renga master in his thirties. He is especially famous for two sequences, Minase sangin (1488; “Three Poets at Minase”) and Yuyama sangin (1491; “Three Poets at Yuyama”), in each of which poets led by Sogi in turn composed short stanzas to form a single poem with many shifts of mood. Later the initial verse of renga (called hokku) developed into the haiku form. Sogi wrote many independant hokku, which were not part of a renga, as well.

To understand the poem, you have to know that winter is a dry season in Japan (at least on the Pacific Coast). In other words, a winter drizzle is the briefest of showers and all too brief, too, is life…

Address: Hakone-machi, Ashigara-Shimo-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture
Access: Hakone Yumoto Station is 15 min. from Odawara Station on the Hakone Tozan Railway. Odawara Station is 35 minutes from Tokyo Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen or 1 hour 30 minutes on the Tokaido Line.
Festival: On November 3 each year the Hakone Daimyo Procession is held, which starts at 10:00 from Sounji.