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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 .
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- - - Station 4 - Muronoyashima, Muro no Yashima 室の八嶋 - - -
I went to see the shrine of Muronoyashima. According to Sora, my companion, this shrine is dedicated to the goddess called the Lady of the Flower-Bearing Trees, who has another shrine at the foot of Mt.Fuji. This goddess is said to have locked herself up in a burning cell to prove the divine nature of her newly-conceived son when her husband doubted it. As a result, her son was named the Lord Born Out of the Fire, and her shrine, Muro-no-yashima, which means a burning cell.
It was the custom of this place for poets to sing of the rising smoke, and for ordinary people not to eat konoshiro, a speckled fish, which has a vile smell when burnt.
Tr. by Nobuyuki Yuasa
- - - - - NOTES
Burning cell
The story from the Nihongi is this:
"The August Grandchild accordingly favored (i.e., married) her, whereupon in one night she became pregnant. But the August Grandchild was slow to believe this, and said:- 'Heavenly deity though I am, how could I cause anyone to become pregnant in the space of one night? That which thou hast in thy bosom is assuredly not my child.' Therefore Ka-ashi-tsu-hime was wroth. She prepared a doorless muro (called utsumuro), and entering, dwelt therein. Then she made a solemn declaration, saying: -
'If that which is in my bosom is not the offspring of the Heavenly Grandchild, it will assuredly be destroyed by fire, but if it is really the offspring of the Heavenly grandchild, fire cannot harm it.'
So she set fire to the muro. The child which was born from the extremity of the smoke which first arose was called Ho no Susori no mikoto (he was the ancestor of the Hayato)..." [W.G. Aston, p. 71-3]
The Heavenly Grandchild here is the deity who descended from the high plain of heaven to Takachiho and thus provides the living link between heaven and earth.
According to another version of the story, the princess secluded herself in a cave which became a birthing room and purified it with fire to insure a safe birth. She gave birth to three deities: Hosuseri, Hoakari, and Hohodemi.
Burnt
They say that this fish when cooked gives off the smell of burning human flesh and therefore is associated with the Lady of the Flowerbearing Trees. This is also why people are forbidden to eat this fish.
source : terebess.hu/english
室の八嶋に詣す。同行曾良が曰、「此神は木の花さくや姫の神と申て富士一躰也。無戸室に入て焼給ふちかひのみ中に、火々出見のみこと生れ給ひしより室の八嶋と申。又煙を讀習し侍もこの謂也」。将このしろといふ魚を禁ず。縁記の旨世に傳ふ事も侍し。
. the fish konoshiro コノシロ (Konosirus punctatus) .
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The eight "islands" of Muro 室の八嶋
入りかかる日も糸遊の名残かな
irikakaru hi mo itoyuu no nagori kana
At Muro no Yashima 室の八嶋
with threads of
heat waves it is interwoven:
the smoke
Bashoo, tr. Barnhill
- Barnhill:
"Muro no Yashima is a Shinto shrine (now Oomiwa Shrine in the city of Tochigi).
The 'kami' enshrined there is Konohana Sakuya Hime (Princess of the Blossoming Trees), consort of the deity Ninigi no Mikoro. After he suspected that her pregnancy was not by him, she gave birth locked in a burning room in order to prove the divine nature of her offspring.
As a result, poems related to this shrine often mention smoke."
Written in 元禄2年, Oku no Hosomichi
hi mo is the origin of the word 日も＝紐 thread.
Muro no Yashima
source : ee4y-nsn
"Doorless Shrine of the Cauldron" - tr. by Keene
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糸遊に結びつきたる煙哉
itoyuu ni musubitsukitaru kemuri kana
with threads of
heat waves it is interwoven:
the smoke
Tr. Barnhill
. WKD : itoyuu 糸遊, 、yuushi 遊糸"playing threads" heat shimmers .
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