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- Oku no Hosomichi - 奥の細道 - おくのほそ道
The Narrow Road to the Deep North -
. Oku no Hosomichi - 奥の細道 - Introduction .
source : itoyo/basho
白河の関（「芭蕉翁絵詞伝」 Shirakawa no Seki
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- - - Station 10 - Shirakawa no Seki 白川の関 - - -
After many days of solitary wandering, I came at last to the barrier-gate of Shirakawa, which marks the entrance to the northern regions. Here, for the first time, my mind was able to gain a certain balance and composure, no longer victim to pestering anxiety, so it was with a mild sense of detachment that I thought about the ancient traveller who had passed through this gate with a burning desire to write home. This gate was counted among the three largest checking stations, and many poets had passed through it, each leaving a poem of his own making. I myself walked between trees laden with thick foliage with the distant sound of autumn wind in my ears and a vision of autumn tints before my eyes. There were hundreds and thousands of pure white blossoms of unohana in full bloom on either side of the road, in addition to the equally white blossoms of brambles, so that the ground, at a glance, seemed to be covered with early snow. According to the accounts of Kiyosuke, the ancients are said to have passed through this gate, dressed up in their best clothes.
Decorating my hair
With white blossoms of unohana,
I walked through the gate,
My only gala dress.
-- written by Sora
Tr. by Nobuyuki Yuasa
source : terebess.hu/english
心許なき日かず重るまゝに、白川の関にかゝりて旅心定りぬ。いかで都へと便求しも断也。中にも此関は三関の一にして、風騒の人心をとゞむ。秋風を耳に残し、 紅葉を俤にして、青葉の梢猶あはれ也。卯の花の白妙に茨の花の咲そひて、雪にもこゆる心地ぞする。古人冠を正し、衣装を改し事など、清輔の筆にもとゞめ置れしとぞ。
卯の花をかざしに関の晴着かな - u no hana o kazashite sekii no haregi kana 曾良 - Sora
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source : www.yumekougei.com
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Basho wrote some hokku in Shirakawa, not mentioned in the main story.
西か東かまづ早苗にも風の音
. nishi ka higashi ka mazu sanae ni mo kaze no oto .
from the west? from the east?
above all in the rice sprouts
the sound of the wind
Tr. Barnhill
from the east or west?
among the first rice-sprouts now
the sound of the wind
Tr. Chilcott
In memory of a waka by Priest Noin
都をば霞と共に立ちしかど秋風ぞ吹く白河の関
At the capital
it was with the spreading [spring] haze
that I took to the road.
Now the autumn wind is blowing
at Shirakawa Barrier
Tr. Donald Keene
. Nooin, Nōin, Noo-In 能因法師 Priest Noin .
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早苗にも我が色黒き日数哉
sanae ni mo waga iro kuroki hikazu kana
Rice just sprouting
Yet already suntanned I am -
So many days.
Tr. Saito/Nelson
Basho had left Edo quite a while ago and now the young rice plants are already out. His own skin had darkened from the many days spend on the road.
This hokku has the cut marker KANA at the end of line 3.
the rice plants still young
and yet my skin is dark
from many days (travelling) . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve
Basho uses the expression "my color is black" waga iro kuroki.
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田や麦や中にも夏のほととぎす
. ta ya mugi ya naka ni mo natsu no hototogisu .
rice fields and barley -
and among them also
summer's cuckoo
Tr. Barnhill
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Written at - - - - Station 11 - Sukagawa 須賀川 - - -
関守の宿を水鶏にとをふもの
. sekimori no yado o kuina ni toou mono .
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Waka by Fujiwara no Suemichi 藤原 季通 (Heian period, around 1158)
見て過る人しなければ卯の花の 咲ける垣根やしらかわの関
mite suguru hito shi nakereba unohana no / sakeru kakine ya Shirakawa no seki
Since no one passes
without looking
at the shrub fence
blooming with white deutzia,
it must be Shirakawa Barrier.
Tr. Shirane
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Sakai no Myoojin 境の明神 (福島) Sakai no Myojin Shrine, Fukushima
Two shrines at the border to the Northern Territories. One on each side of the frontier line. On the inner side a shrine for the female deity (Tamatsushima Myojin 玉津島) to protect the interior. On the outer side a shrine for a male deity (Sumiyoshi Myojin 住吉明神) to protect from enemies of the outside. Travellers in the Edo period used to pray here for a safe trip and gave thanks after a trip was finished.
. Basho in Shirakawa .
. Sumiyoshi Jinja 住吉神社 Sumiyoshi Shrines in Japan .
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白河の関の章段
source : www.bashouan.com
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. Oku no Hosomichi - 奥の細道 - Introduction .
. Shirakawa Daruma 白川だるま .
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