18/11/2012

Oku Station 7 - Kurobane

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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 .

9th day of the 4th lunar month, now May 27

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- - - Station 7 - Kurobane 黒羽 - - -


I arrived safely at the town of Kurobane, and visited my friend, Joboji, who was then looking after the mansion of his lord in his absence. He was overjoyed to see me so unexpectedly, and we talked for days and nights together. His brother, Tosui, seized every opportunity to talk with me, accompanied me to his home and introduced me to his relatives and friends. One day we took a walk to the suburbs. We saw the ruins of an ancient dog shooting ground, and pushed further out into the grass-moor to see the tomb of Lady Tamamo and the famous Hachiman Shrine, upon whose god the brave archer, Yoichi, is said to have called for aid when he was challenged to shoot a single fan suspended over a boat drifting offshore. We came home after dark.

I was invited out to the Komyoji Temple, to visit the hall in which was enshrined the founder of the Shugen sect. He is said to have travelled all over the country in wooden clogs, preaching his doctrines.

Amid mountains mountains of high summer,
I bowed respectfully before
The tall clogs of a statue,
Asking a blessing on my journey.


Tr. by Nobuyuki Yuasa
source : terebess.hu/english


黒羽の館代浄坊寺何がしの方に音信る。思ひがけぬあるじの悦び、日夜語つゞけて、其弟桃翠など云が朝夕勤とぶらひ、自の家にも伴ひて、親属の方にもまねかれ日をふるまゝに、ひとひ郊外に逍遥して、犬追物の跡を一見し、那須の 篠原わけて玉藻の前の古墳をとふ。それより八幡宮に詣。与一扇の的を射し時、「別しては我国氏神正八まん」とちかひしも此神社にて侍と聞ば、感應殊しきりに覚えらる。暮れば、桃翠宅に帰る。

修験光明寺と云有。そこにまねかれて行者堂を拝す。

夏山に足駄を拝む首途哉 - natsuyama ni ashida o ogamau kadode kana

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. Basho and Tamamo no Mae 玉藻前 - Tamamo Gozen 玉藻御前 .
- - - Station 9 - Sesshoseki 殺生岩 - Ashino 蘆野 - - -


Nasu no Yoichi (那須 与一) (c. 1169 – c. 1232)
was a samurai who fought alongside the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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夏山に足駄を拝む首途哉
natsuyama ni ashida o ogamau kadode kana

n the summer mountains
praying before the clogs:
setting off

Tr. Barnhill

Ad G. Blankestjin notes:
After Basho's timely visit to Unganji, the rains kept falling for several days. From the 6th to the 8th, he was not able to leave Choboji's house. On the 9th, however, he decided to go out in the rain and was taken to Komyoji, a shugendo temple in the fields on the east side of the town. This temple was famous for its Gyoja Hall, a hall dedicated to En no Gyoja, the legendary founder of the ascetic mountain Buddhism.

The 'ashida' mentioned in the poem (here translated as clogs) are a special kind of high geta, worn by those monks when practicing austerities. To make walking difficult, these geta had only one support instead of the normal two. The temple probably housed a statue of En no Gyoja wearing such high clogs.

Basho prays in front of them, wishing for strong feet and legs himself at the start of his long journey. Unfortunately, Komyoji was destroyed at the beginning of the Meiji period. The haiku stone stands forlorn in the high grass.


- quote
For haiku fans, the quiet former castle town of Kurobane in northern Tochigi is an important pilgrimage place, as Basho spent two weeks here in 1689 on his way to the Deep North.
- source : www.japannavigator.com - Ad Blankestijn


- geta 下駄 wooden clogs -


CLICK for more photos

. En-no-Gyôja 役行者 .



source : kiribo.at.webry.info

Shugen Koomyooji 修験光明寺跡


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鶴鳴くやその声に芭蕉破れぬべし
. tsuru naku ya sono koe ni bashoo yarenu beshi .
a crane screaches . . .



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. Oku no Hosomichi - 奥の細道 - Introduction .



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