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- Edo 江戸 the Castle Town -
From 1603 to 1868, the city of Edo was the seat of power of the Tokugawa shogunate and the political center of Japan. In 1868 the city was renamed Tokyo and made the official capital of the nation.
. - - - Welcome to Edo 江戸 ! - - - the Edo Jidai Guidebook .
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秋十年却って江戸を指す故郷
秋十年却て江戸を指故郷
秋十とせ却て 江戸を指古郷
aki totose kaette Edo o sasu kokyoo
ten years ten autumns -
now I think of Edo
as my hometown
Tr. Gabi Greve
Basho has lived in Edo now for ten years and feels it is his home now.
He sets out on a trip to his hometown in Iga, Ueno.
. Nozarashi Kiko 野ざらし紀 .
totose 十歳 - an expression from the Genji Monogatari.
Hashi Hime, Hashihime 橋姫
その人もかしこにてうせ侍にし後ととせあまりにて
sono hito mo kashiko ni te use haberi ni shi nochi,
totose amari nite
quote
A pictorial subject based on "The Lady at the Bridge" Hashihime, Chapter 45 of GENJI MONOGATARI 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji).
The last ten chapters of the Tale are known as UJI JUUJOU 宇治十帖 (The Ten Books of Uji). This chapter, the first of the ten, introduces the Eighth Prince Hachi no miya 八宮, a half-brother of Genji, and his two daughters, Ooigimi 大君 and Naka no kimi 中君, who live with him in his self-imposed retirement at Uji (south of Kyoto). The prince is known for his piety and wisdom. Kaoru 薫, whose serious character is engendered by deep misgivings about his paternity, begins to study under Hachi no miya.
Eventually he learns from Ben no kimi 弁君, the daughter of *Kashiwagi's 柏木 wet nurse, that he is not in fact Genji's son, but rather the illegitimate son of Kashiwagi. The scene most frequently chosen for illustration shows Ooigimi playing a lute biwa 琵琶 and Naka no kimi a harp koto 琴 under the moon and clouds while Kaoru secretly peers in through a break in the villa's bamboo fence.
This scene survives in a section of the earliest illustrated version (12c) in the Tokugawa 徳川 Art Museum.
source : Jaanus
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富士の風や扇にのせて江戸土産
. Fuji no kaze ya oogi ni nosete Edo miyage .
The wind from mount Fuji as a souvenir from Edo . . .
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. Koishikawa 小石川養生所 Koishikawa Yojosho Hospital in Edo .
Katsushika Hokusai 礫川雪ノ旦/小石川雪ノ旦
snow at the tea house in Koishikawa
一時雨礫や降つて小石川
hito shigure tsubute ya futte Koishikawa
a winter drizzle
and now - some hailstones falling
at Koishikawa
Tr. Gabi Greve
Written in 1677 延宝５年, Basho age 34
The cut marker YA is in the middle of line 2.
The name Koishikawa used to be written with the Chinses characters 礫川.
礫 means small stones, Basho here uses a pun with the hailstones.
. Koishikawa 小石川 in Edo .
With a stone memorial
愚考、延宝元年の吟なり。むかしは礫川と書、後に小石川とあらたむるといふ故に、此作あり。袖日記には貞享二年の部にのせたるは非なり。貞享元の春より正風体を専らに唱ふ。
source : michiko328
Tokugawa Mitsukuni 徳川光圀
. Mito Komon 水戸黄門 .
(1628 - 1701)
In some jidaigeki Samurai movies in Japan, Mito Komon and Matsuo Basho can be seen travelling in Tohoku together.
Matsuo Basho was played by Sakai Masa-aki 堺正章.
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詠むるや江戸には稀な山の月
nagamuru ya Edo ni wa mare na yama no tsuki
Let us write poetry!
the moon above the moutains
is hardly seen in Edo
Written in 延宝4年, Basho age 33
Basho had been back in Iga Ueno for the second time and compares the bright moon of his mountainous region with the usually clouded moon of Edo.
The town of Edo had already more than 1.000.000 inhabitants and its own environmental problems with all the wood and coal fires for cooking and heating.
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quote
During Basho’s youth, Edo city is in the process of rapid economic growth.
In 1672, Basho dared to move to Edo, ambitious to become a haiku master with great popularity. At this time, Basho wrote a haiku praising the prosperity of two Japanese capitals: Edo and Kyoto.
天秤や京江戸かけて千代の春
tenbin ya Kyō Edo kakete chiyo no haru
Kyoto and Edo,
Calmly balanced on a scale,
Forever in spring.
Tr. Yuasa
quote
On the giant scales
Kyô and Edo balance
spring of one thousand years
Tr. Ban’ya Natsuishi
In Edo where Basho was residing, a Kabuki actor Danjuro Ichikawa (1660-1704) made his flashy debut in 1673. In 1677, “Edo Suzume”, a guidebook of Edo sites, illustrated by an ukiyo-e painter Moronobu Hishikawa (1618-1694) was published. Commercial wealth and a growing chônin (bourgeois) population gave birth to a lively and gorgeous culture in big cities: Osaka, Kyoto and Edo.
“Tenbin” (scales) in the above haiku suggests money changer’s prosperous activity. So, the haiku shows us that Basho, free from worry and hesitation, was sympathized with the urban atmosphere of Edo under economic and cultural development. Basho’s rhetoric is bold enough to make up “the giant scales” which weighs Kyoto and Edo.
His bold rhetoric was directly related to the expanding urbanism of Edo.
Modernity and anti-urbanism in Basho Matsuo
. Ban’ya Natsuishi .
Kyoto the aristocrat capital and
Edo the samurai capital
and now noodles -
Soba of Edo versus Udon of Kyoto
Matsuo Basho visiting
. - Kyooto 京都 Kyoto, Kyo - Miyako 都 / みやこ- .
. WKD : tenbin 天秤 scales and salesmen in Edo .
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3 Paintings of Basho from the Basho Kinenkan in Tokyo
江東区芭蕉記念館
source : www.bashouan.com
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Matsuo Basho in
. - Kyooto 京都 Kyoto, Kyo - Miyako 都 / みやこ- .
. - - - Welcome to Edo 江戸 ! .
. Cultural Keywords used by Basho .
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