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- tsue 杖 stick, walking stick - Wanderstab -
cane, staff, Stock
. Travelling with Matsuo Basho .
As a traveller, mostly walking, he depended on his stick quite a lot.
A strong stick in the hand of a samurai was also a weapon against wild animals.
The sticks were made of various material, bamboo was a favorite. But light kinds of strong wood were also used.
Robin Gill tells us:
In the Edo period,
it was a custom with certain people to give a new walking staff to a man above the age of 50.
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- - - - - Mourning for the death of Matsukura Ranran 松倉嵐蘭 - - - - -
秋風に折れて悲しき桑の杖
akikaze ni orete kanashiki kuwa no tsue
in the autumn wind
it lies, sadly broken -
a mulberry stick
Tr. Ueda
Ranran (1647 - 93) was one of Basho's oldest students in Edo . . .
He died suddenly on September 26.
Basho had depended on him, more than upon any other disciple, as his supporting "stick".
"A mulberry bow" is part of an old Chinese phrase wishing future success for a boy. It has its origin in an ancient Chinese ritual, in which the father of a newborn boy would shoot an arrow with a mulberry bow as a token of his good wishes.
source : books.google.co.jp
Written in 1693, on the 27th of the 8th lunar month.
元禄6年8月27
On the death of Ranran 嵐蘭.
(? - 1693 - 元禄6年8月27日)
Ranran lived in Asakusa, Edo.
The mulberry stick has a hole in the middle and now, when broken, is as empty as the heart of Master Basho.
Basho wrote another poem about this great loss
in a message to the younger brother, Ranchiku 嵐竹宛書簡
見しやその七日は墓の三日の月
mishi ya sono / nanuka wa haka no / mika no tsuki
And a hokku by Ranran himself
. tsuki mo naki yoi kara uma o tsurete kite .
From a three-link sequence Basho wrote with Kyoriku and Ranran in 1692
. - Morikawa Kyoroku / Kyoriku 森川許六 - .
quote
Bashô’s admiration for the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove and Tao Qian is clearly evident in his writings.
One essay dedicated to his deceased disciple, Matsukura Ranran (1647–1693), for example, mentions that the Master had named Ranran’s young son after Wang Rong, one of the Seven Worthies. Wang Rong is one of the less famous of the Seven Worthies; Bashô’s choice therefore demonstrates his familiarity with the tradition as a whole.
Bashô, in the same essay, also praises Ranran in light of the Daoist spirit:
“He had the spirit of Lao and Zhuang and dedicated his whole heart to poetry.”
Though a very brief statement, the connection he draws between the Daoist spirit and the dedication to poetry here demonstrates a deep understanding of the Wei-Jin fengliu (風流) tradition.
source : Basho-and-the-Dao - Peipei-Qiu
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家はみな杖に白髪の墓参り
. ie wa mina tsue ni shiragami no hakamairi .
his family members with canes and white hair
and one more about his own "white hair"
. shiraga nuku makura no shita ya kirigirisu .
(autumn) crickets. white hair under my pillow
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The slope Tsuetsukizaka 杖突坂 "Walking-stick Hill"
Tsuetsuki Pass
鶯やつえつき坂に老を啼
source : www.humi.keio.ac.jp
Hiroshige
歩行ならば杖突坂を落馬哉
歩行ならば杖つき坂を落馬哉
kachi naraba Tsuetsuki-zaka o rakuba kana
"I rented a horse at the village of Hinaga ... so I could ride up Walking-stick Hill. But my pack-saddle overturned and I was thrown from the horse.
if only I had walked
Walking-stick Hill:
falling from my horse
Tr. Barnhill
Written in 1693 元禄6年, Basho age 50
On his way to Iga Ueno
Other sources quote
Written in 1687 (貞享4年).
. Oi no Kobumi 笈の小文 .
This hokku has no season word. The cut marker KANA is at the end of line 3.
It is difficult to translate, keeping the meaning of the place name understandable without a long footnote.
if I had walked -
I fell from my horse
at (this steep slope) Tsuetsuki-zaka
if only I had walked
the steep slope Tsuetsuki-zaka
(but even though,) I fell from my horse
Tr. Gabi Greve
if only I'd walked --
I fell from my horse
on walking stick slope [Tsuetsuki-zaka*]
* the name of the slope means 'walking stick slope'
Paraphrase Elaine Andre, FB
source : sekisen_tsurezure
The slope Tsuetsukizaka, "slope to climb with a walking stick"
is in Mie prefecture, Yokkaichi, between the villages Uneme and Ishiyakushi, on the way to the great shrine at Ise 伊勢神宮.
采女町と鈴鹿市石薬師町.
After the legendary hero Yamato Takeru no Kami 日本武尊 had fougt with the wild deities of Mount Ibukisan , he was so tired that he had to use a stick to walk this slope.
. Yamato Takeru 日本武尊, first Deity of Renku .
Shrine Sakaori no Miya 酒折宮
Basho at Mount Ibuki
. Mount Ibuki 伊吹山 Ibuki-yama .
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その形見ばや枯木の杖の長
sono katachi miba ya kareki no tsue no take
from its form
I imagine - from withered wood
your long staff
Tr. Gabi Greve
Before the onset of winter in 1688, Basho had promised to meet the Buddhist layman Doo-En 道円居士 Do-En of Daitsu-An Hermitage 大通庵 (Daitsuu-an) .
Written in the 10th lunar month1688, 元禄元年10月
On the 30th day of the 9th lunar month,道円 Do-En had passed away
"like the frost of an early winter night."
The staff must have been extremely long and remarkable, since Basho mentions its form in line 1 and its length in the last line.
This hokku has the cut marker YA in the middle of line 2.
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宿りせん藜の杖になる日まで
yadorisen akaza no tsue ni naru hi made
yadorisemu, yadori sen
I will stay here
until the day this pigweed
has become a walking cane
Tr. Gabi Greve
Summer of 1688, 貞亨5年5月, Oi Nikki 笈日記
Written in Kajikawa, Gifu at temple Myooshooji 妙照寺 Myosho-Ji.
At the home of Kihaku 己百, where Basho stayed for a short while.
This is a greeting hokku for his host. He must have felt very comfortable there.
Kihaku later visited Basho in Kyoto and in Mino.
Kihaku / Shuuboo 己百 / 秋芳 Shubo, priest at Myosho-Ji
Two of his hokku are known.
I would lodge here
until the days the goosefoot
has grown a staff
Tr. Barnhill
Here I'll stay until the day
This goosefoot plant
Into a walking stick is made.
Tr. Saito / Nelson
akaza 藜 / アカザ pigweed
It is used in Asia to make canes, and refers to the Gods of Long Life.
Canes of the thorny shrub. Sometimes seen as a phallic symbol.
source and more photos : ibikitaro.no-blog.jp
Basho is making a reference to the Chinese poet
. WKD : Du Fu 杜甫 (712–770) .
藜を杖いて 世を嘆ずる者は誰子ぞ
holding an akaza cane
he grieves over this world -
who might he be ?
. akaza 藜 (あかざ) pigweed .
Chenopodium album var. centrorubrum
fat-hen, goosefoot, nickel greens, smearwort
lambsquarters, Lamb's-quarters
- kigo for all summer
. . . . . but
akaza no mi 藜の実 (あかざのみ) fruit of the pigweed
- kigo for early autumn
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His walking stick, mentioned in Oku no Hosomichi 奥の細道
I wanted to see what remained of the hut, and so,
walking-staff in hand, I set out.
. Station 8 - Unganji 雲岸寺 .
- - - - -
The chestnut is a holy tree, for the Chinese ideograph for chestnut is Tree placed directly below West, the direction of the holy land. The Priest Gyoki is said to have used it for his walking stick and the chief support of his house.
. Station 11 - Sukagawa 須賀川 .
- - - - -
source : www.intweb.co.jp/basyou
According to the gate-keeper there was a huge body of mountains obstructing my way to the province of Dewa, and the road was terribly uncertain. So I decided to hire a guide. The gate-keeper was kind enough to find me a young man of tremendous physique, who walked in front of me with a curved sword strapped to his waist and a stick of oak gripped firmly in his hand.
I myself followed him, afraid of what might happen on the way.
. Station 24 - Dewagoe 出羽越え .
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Basho Tsue no Ato 芭蕉杖跡 Remains of his walking staff
Basho left his walking stick at tempel 本隆寺 near Irogahama, Tsuruga.
source : nipponn-daisuki.seesaa.net
小萩散れますほの小貝小盃
. ko hagi chire Masuho no ko-gai ko sakazuki .
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芭蕉の杖跡―おくのほそ道新紀行
森村 誠一 Morimura Seiichi
元禄２（１６８９）年、全行程２４００ｋｍに及ぶ「おくのほそ道」の旅に出た松尾芭蕉。そして３００年余りを経た現在、ミステリー小説の巨匠であり、“写真俳句”で俳句の新たな可能性を追求する森村誠一が「蕉跡」を追う。
芭蕉の時代、東日本大震災以降と何が変わり、何が変わらなかったのか。
How did the Tohoku region change after the great earthquake of March 2011?
What is left from the region which Basho has seen?
Morimura on a quest in Tohoku.
source : www.yodobashi.com
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henrotsue, henro tsue 遍路杖 Pilgrm's Staff, the alter-ego of Kobo Daishi
kongootsue, kongoo tsue 金剛杖 "diamond staff"
. WKD : Henro 遍路 Shikoku Pilgrimage .
. WKD : Usaka no tsue 鵜坂の杖 Holy Sakaki stick of Usaka .
and a festival hitting the unfaithful ladies . . .
. WKD : kayuzue 粥杖 "rice gruel stick" .
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Exhibition - Daruma to Tsue 達磨と杖
-- Reference --
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. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .
息杖に石の火を見る枯野哉
ikizue ni ishi no hi o miru kareno kana
from the walking stick
sparks on the stone are seen
in the withered field . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve
Written in 1778, Buson age 63.
The cut marker KANA is at the end of line 3.
ikizue , lit. "breathing stick", is the walking stick of porters of palanquins or luggage.
Maybe the lower end of the stick was enforced with iron, which made sparks when placed on a stone. This poem shows the love for details observed by Buson.
source : isenakachans
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. kasezue 鹿杖 "walking stick of deer horn" - shika no tsue 鹿の杖 .
Legend about 小野一万大菩薩 Ono Ichiman Daibosatsu
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. Traveling with Matsuo Basho .
. Cultural Keywords used by Basho .
[ . BACK to DARUMA MUSEUM TOP . ]
[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
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