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- Kashima Kikoo 鹿島紀行 - A Visit to the Kashima Shrine
Kashima Moode 鹿島詣 Kashima Mode - A Pilgrimage to Kashima.
The Kashima shrine is dedicated to the deity
Takemikazuchi no mikoto (武甕槌大神) - Kashima Daijin (鹿島大神) "Great God at Kashima".
a patron of the martial arts and related to earthquakes.
The "Great God of Kashima" rode on a white deer from Kashima all the way to the Kasuga shrine in Nara as a divine messenger, and the deer became the symbol of Nara.
arare furi 霰ふり hail falls
is a special word (makurakotoba) to denote the God of Kashima in the Manyoshu poetry.
quote
Kashima Shinko 鹿島信仰 -
It is possible to think of Kashima faith as the sect based at Kashima Jingū in Kashima-machi, Ibaraki Prefecture, but it can broadly be divided into beliefs related to water, "tutelary of roads" (sae no kami 障の神（さえのかみ）), and Kashima shrines. Many regions and shrines bear the name "Kashima," and since these are usually found in river, stream, lake, or swamp areas, we can assume that the origins of Kashima faith are profoundly connected with water.
snip
. WKD : Kashima Jinguu 鹿島神宮 Shrine Kashima Jingu and its kigo .
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A Pilgrimage to Kashima.
From the 8th to the 12th month of 1687 Basho took a short trip to the Kashima Shrine to see the harvest moon. The night of the viewing was rainy and overcast, but he was able to visit with the Zen Buddhist priest with whom he had studied in Edo.
- English reference -
- Japanese Reference -
Click on the hyperlinks for further discussions of the poems by Basho.
under construction
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The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches
Matsuo Basho (Author), Nobuyuki Yuasa (Translator)
A VISIT TO THE KASHIMA SHRINE
Tr. Nobuyuki Yuasa
Visiting the Suma Beach on the night of the autumnal full moon, Teishitsu 洛の貞室, a poet from Kyoto, is said to have written,
松かげや月は三五夜中納言
Crouching under a pine
I watched the full moon,
Pondering all night long
On the sorrow of Chunagon.
Having for some time cherished in my mind the memory of this poet, I wandered out on to the road at last one day this past autumn, possessed by an irresistible desire to see the rise of the full moon over the mountains of the Kashima Shrine. I was accompanied by two men. One was a master- less youth and the other was a wandering priest. The latter was clad in a robe black as a crow, with a bundle of sacred stoles around his neck and on his back a portable shrine containing a holy image of the Buddha-after-enlightenment. This priest, brandishing his long staff, stepped into the road, ahead of all the others, as if he had a free pass to the World beyond the Gateless Gate.
I, too, was clad in a black robe, but neither a priest nor an ordinary man of this world was I, for I wavered ceaselessly like a bat that passes for a bird at one time and for a mouse at another. We got on a boat near my house and sailed to the town of Gyotoku, where, landing from our boat, we proceeded without hiring a horse, for we wanted to try the strength of our slender legs.
Covering our heads with cypress hats, which were a kind gift of a certain friend in the province of Kai, we walked along, till, having passed the village of Yahata we came to the endless grass-moor called Kamagai-no-hara. In China, it is said, there is a wide field where one can command a distance of one thousand miles by a single glance, but here our eyes swept over the grass unobstructed, till finally they rested upon the twin peaks of Mount Tsukuba soaring above the horizon. Rising into heaven, like two swords piercing the sky, these peaks vie with the famous twin peaks of Mount Rozan 廬山 in China.
雪は申さずまづむらさきのつくば哉
. yuki wa mosazu mazu murasaki no Tsukuba kana .
Not to mention
The beauty of its snow,
Mount Tsukuba shines forth
In its purple robes.
This is a poem written by Ransetsu, my disciple, upon his visit here. Prince Yamatotakeru also immortalized this mountain in his poem, and the first anthology of linked verse was named after this mountain. Indeed such is the beauty of the mountain that few poets have found it possible to pass by it without composing a poem of their own, be it waka or haiku.
Scattered all around me were the flowers of bush-clover. As I watched them in amazement, I could not help admiring Tamenaka who is said to have carried sprays of bush-clover in his luggage all the way to Kyoto as a souvenir. Among the bush-clover were other wild flowers in bloom, such as bellflower, valerian, pampas large and small, all tangled in great confusion. The belling of wild stags, probably calling their mates, was heard now and then, and herds of horses were seen stepping proudly as they trampled upon the grass.
We reached the town of Fusa on the banks of the River Tone towards nightfall. The fishermen of this town catch salmon by spreading wickerwork traps in the river, and sell it in the markets in Edo. We went into one of the fishermen's huts and had a short sleep amidst the fishy smell. Upon waking, however, we hired a boat, and, descending the river under the bright beams of the moon, arrived at the Kashima Shrine.
On the following day it started to rain in the afternoon, and in no way could we see the rise of the full moon. I was told that the former priest of the Komponji Temple was living in seclusion at the foot of the hill where the shrine was situated. So I went to see him, and was granted a night's shelter. The tranquillity of the priest's hermitage was such that it inspired, in the words of an ancient poet, 'a profound sense of meditation' in my heart, and for a while at least I was able to forget the fretful feeling I had about not being able to see the full moon.
Shortly before daybreak, however, the moon began to shine through the rifts made in the hanging clouds. I immediately wakened the priest, and other members of the household followed him out of bed. We sat for a long time in utter silence, watching the moonlight trying to penetrate the clouds and listening to the sound of the lingering rain. It was really regrettable that I had come such a long way only to look at the dark shadow of the moon, but I consoled myself by remembering the famous lady who had returned without composing a single poem from the long walk she had taken to hear a cuckoo.
The following are the poems we composed on this occasion:
おりおりにかはらぬ空の月かげもちぢのながめは雲のまにまに
Regardless of weather,
The moon shines the same;
It is the drifting clouds
That make it seem different
On different nights.
(by the priest 和尚)
月はやし梢は雨を持ながら
. tsuki hayashi kozue wa ame o mochinagara .
Swift the moon
Across the sky,
Treetops below
Dripping with rain.
寺にねてまことがほなる月見かな
. tera ni nete makoto gao ni naru tsukimi kana.
Having slept
In a temple,
I watched the moon
With a solemn look.
(Two by Tosei 桃青 - Basho) - at temple 根本寺 Konpon-Ji
雨にねて竹おきかへる月見かな
Having slept
In the rain,
The bamboo corrected itself
To view the moon.
(by Sora 曽良)
月さびし堂の軒端の雨しづく
How lonely it is
To look at the moon
Hearing in a temple
Eavesdrops pattering.
(by Soha 宗波)
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Poems composed at the Kashima Shrine 神前 :
此松の実ばえせし代や神の秋
. kono matsu no mibae seshi yo ya kami no aki .
In the days
Of the ancient gods,
A mere seedling
This pine must have been.
(by Tosei 桃青 - Basho)
ぬぐはばや石のおましの苔の露
Let us wipe
In solemn penitence
Dew-drops gathered
On the sacred stone.
(by Soha 宗波)
膝折やかしこまりなく鹿の声
In front of the shrine
Even stags kneel down
To worship,
Raising pitiful cries.
(by Sora 曽良)
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Poems composed at a farm-house 田家:
かりかけし田面の鶴や里の秋
karikakeshi tazura no tsuru ya sato no aki
A solitary crane
In the half-reaped paddies,
The autumn deepens
In the village.
(by Tosei 桃青 - Basho)
夜田かりに我やとはれん里の月
Under this bright moon
Over the village,
Let me help the farmers
Harvest rice.
(by Soha 宗波)
賤の子や稲すりかけて月をみる
. shizu no ko ya ine surikakete tsuki o miru .
A farmer's child
Hulling rice
Arrests his hands
To look at the moon.
(by Tosei 桃青 - Basho)
芋の葉や月まつ里の焼ばたけ
imo no ha ya tsuki matsu sato no yakibatake
Potato leaves
On incinerated ground,
I awaited tiptoe
The rise of the moon.
(by Tosei 桃青 - Basho)
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Poems composed in a field 野:
ももひきや一花すりの萩ごろも
Dyed a gay colour
My trousers will be
By the bush-clovers
In full bloom.
(by Sora 曽良)
花の秋草にくひあく野馬かな
In mid-autumn
Horses are left to graze
Till they fall replete
In the flowering grass.
(by Sora 曽良)
萩原や一夜はやどせ山の犬
hagihara ya hito-yo wa yadose yama no inu
Bush clovers,
Be kind enough to take in
This pack of mountain dogs
At least for a night.
(by Tosei 桃青 - Basho) at 北総
Barnhill, in discussing this hokku, references an earlier version:
ookami mo hitoyo wa yadose hagi ga moto
even wolves:
be their shelter for a night:
within the bush clover
trans. David Barnhill
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Poems composed at Jijun's house where we stopped on our way home 帰路自準に宿す:
塒(ねぐら)せよわら干宿の友すずめ
Friend sparrows,
Sleep, if you please,
Haystack-enclosed
At my house.
(Written by the host 主人)
秋をこめたるくねのさし杉
Surrounded by a thick foliage of cedars,
Your house stands, pregnant with autumn.
(Written by a guest 客)
月見んと汐ひきのぼる舟とめて
We started out
On our moon-viewing trip,
Calling to halt
A boat ascending the river.
(by Sora 曽良)
The twenty-fifth of August, the Fourth Year of Jyokyo. 貞享丁卯仲秋末五日
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. priest Sooha 宗波 Soha of the Obaku Zen school .
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karikakeshi tazura no tsuru ya sato no aki
in the half harvested
rice paddies, a crane —
autumn in the village
Tr. Barnhill
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imo no ha ya tsuki matsu sato no yakibatake
taro leaves—
awaiting the moon
on the village’s burnt field
Tr. Barnhill
. WKD : imo 芋 (いも) Taro .
Colocasia antiquorum
The word imo is also used in combination for all kinds of other potatoes.
The translations for potatoe in Japan get mixed up easily.
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萩原や一夜はやどせ山の犬
hagihara ya hito-yo wa yadose yama no inu
hagi-hara ya
field of bush clovers —
be their shelter for a night:
mountain dogs
Tr. Barnhill
Bush clovers,
Be kind enough to take in
This pack of mountain dogs
At least for a night.
Tr. Yuasa
Basho is praying to the wolves, messengers of the Mountain Deity, not to come to this place tonight and let him sleep safely. He assures them that he also would not do anything to pollute their sacred field of residence.
. yama no inu, yama-inu, yamainu 山犬 "mountain dog", wolf .
As a messenger of the Mountain Deity, they protect the fields by chasing deer and wild boars, which often harm the fields.
They also protect travelers, by walking behind them in a good distance - 送り狼 okuri-ookami. If the traveler comes to a human settlement after walking in the woods, he would place one of his straw sandals on the ground with an offering of rice.
Other lonely travelers might be attacked by a pack of wolves and spent a night hanging high in the branches of a tree.
this field of bush clovers -
let it be my place of rest for one night,
you honorable wolves
Tr. Greve
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 月岡芳年 (1839 – 1892)
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On a stone memorial in the Kashima Shrine compound
Photo by Rob Geraghty
名月や鶴脛高き遠干潟
meigetsu ya tsuru hagi takaki too higata
It is the full moon!
The crane's lower legs are tall
On far tidal flats
Tr. Rob Geraghty
With a photo of cranes :
source : www.pentaxforums.com
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鹿島紀行 - Kashima Kiko Sweets
source : www.bokuden.or.jp
Sweets made from sweet chestnuts from Mount Tsukuba and
autumn buckwheat of Hitachi.
筑波栗と常陸（金砂郷)秋そば
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. WKD : Kashima Jinguu 鹿島神宮 Shrine Kashima Jingu .
. Cultural Keywords used by Basho .
. - KIGO used by Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - .
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