Hatsumono first things

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- First Things, New Things　初物 hatsumono -

"First things" were important to the haikai poets of the Edo period, since they carried a lot of "wabi and sabi" with their limited appearance only once in a year.

Many "First things" belong to the season of the first lunar month, now mostly the New Year.
But
There are many other New and First activities and things throughout the year.

First things often start with HATSU ...
or end in .... SOME / ZOME.
There is also .... HAJIME　for the first time

. WKD : First Things, New Things .

The first katsuo skipjack of the season was one of the most expensive delicacies in Edo.
Even Basho wrote a hokku about it.





目に青葉 山ほととぎす初かつお
me ni aoba yama hototogisu hatsu katsuo

green leaves to look at
hototogisu in the mountains
first Katsuo skipjack

Yamaguchi Sodoo 山口素堂 Sodo
(1642 - 1716)
He was a disciple of Basho

under construction
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- - - - - hatsu　初　- - - - -

千鳥立ち更け行く初夜の日枝颪
. chidori tachi fuke-yuku shoya no hieoroshi .
shoya (soya) 初夜 , lit. "first night", refers to the "double-hour of the dog" 戌の刻, now about 9 in the evening.
It can also mean the "first night" of a newly-wedded couple.



初秋や畳みながらの蚊屋の夜着
. hatsu aki ya tataminagara no kaya no yogi .
first sign of autumn.
Basho uses his folded mosquito net as a blanket.


初秋や海も青田の一みどり
. hatsu aki ya umi mo aota mo hito midori .
(autumn) autumn begins. the sea and the fields one shade of green


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- - - - - There is a proverb
hatusmono nanajuu gonichi 初物75日 / "初物七十五日"

"If you eat a "first thing",
your life will be prolonged for 75 days.


初花に命七十五年ほど
hatsu hana ni inochi nanajuu gonen hodo
hatsu hana ni / inochi shichi jū / go nen hodo

from these first blossoms
I will gain at least
seventy-five years

Written in 延宝6年, Basho age 35

Basho must be looking at some really beautiful cherry blossoms.
Or maybe he is joking about the relationship with the young ladies ?





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初真桑四つにや断たん輪に切らん
. hatsu makuwa yotsu ni ya tatan wa ni kiran .
hatsu makuwa yotsu no ya kiran wa ni kiran
(summer) first Makuwa melon. cut it in quarters? or round slices?


初時雨猿も小蓑を欲しげなり
. hatsu shigure saru mo komino o hoshige nari .
(winter) winter drizzle, monkey, straw coat. - first from Sarumino 猿蓑


初時雨初の字を我が時雨哉
. hatsu shigure hatsu no ji o waga shigure kana .
(winter) first winter drizzle. the character "first".


初霜や菊冷え初むる腰の綿
. hatsu shimo ya kiku hie somuru koshi no wata .
(autumn) chrysanthemums. first frost. cotton wrapper around my hip


初茸やまだ日数経ぬ秋の露
. hatsutake ya mada hikazu henu aki no tsuyu .
(autumn) first mushrooms. few days have passed. dew in autumn


初午に狐の剃りし頭哉
. hatsu-uma ni kitsune no sorishi atama kana .
(New Year) First Day of the Horse. a fox shaved your head
for Zekitsu 是橘



- - - - - - - - - - hatsu yuki, hatsuyuki 初雪 first snow - - - - -

初雪に兎の皮の髭作れ
. hatsu yuki ni usagi no kawa no hige tsukure .
(winter) first snow. rabbit, fur. beard


初雪や聖小僧の笈の色
. hatsuyuki ya hijiri kozoo no oi no iro .
(winter) first snow. mendicant monk. color of his backpack


初雪やいつ大仏の柱立て
. hatsu yuki ya itsu Daibutsu no hashira date .
(winter) first snow. Daibutsu temple, Nara. erect new columns


初雪や懸けかかりたる橋の上
. hatsu yuki ya kakekakaritaru hashi no ue .
(winter) first snow. on the bridge under construction - The Great Bridge of Fukagawa 深川大橋


初雪や幸ひ庵にまかりある
. hatsu yuki ya saiwai an ni makariaru .
(winter) first snow. luckily. I am in my own hut.


初雪や水仙の葉のたわむまで
. hatsuyuki ya suisen no ha no tawamu made .
(winter) first snow. enough to bend the daffodils


初桜折しも今日はよき日なり
. hatsuzakura orishi mo kyoo wa yoki hi nari .
(spring) first cherry blossom. today is a good day
at Iga Ueno　伊賀上野, temple Yakushi-Ji


蓬莱に聞かばや伊勢の初便り
. hoorai ni kikabaya Ise no hatsudayori .
hōrai ni / kikabaya Ise no / hatsu dayori
(New Year) Horai decoration and first news. I would like to hear.


鎌倉を生きて出でけん初鰹
. Kamakura o ikite ideken hatsugatsuo .
(summer) first katsuo skipjack bonito. town of Kamakura. to be alive

顔に似ぬ発句も出でよ初桜
. kao ni ninu hokku mo ideyo hatsu zakura .
(spring) first cherry blossoms, my face, Hokku

この梅に牛も初音と鳴きつべし
. kono ume ni ushi mo hatsune to nakitsu beshi .
(spring) plum blossoms. an oxen might shout his first moo


今日ばかり人も年寄れ初時雨
. kyoo bakari hito mo toshiyore hatsushigure .
(winter) first winter drizzle. just today. growing older.


めづらしや山を出羽の初茄子
. mezurashi ya yama o Dewa no hatsu nasubi .
(summer) Minden eggplants from Dewa, How special!


咲き乱す桃の中より初桜
. saki midasu momo no naka yori hatsu-zakura / hatsuzakura .
(spring) first cherry blossoms. peach blossoms everywhere.


芹焼きや裾輪の田井の初氷
. seriyaki ya susowa no ta-i no hatsu goori . seri yaki ya
(winter) first ice. dropwort (Japanese parsley). irrigation pond


初春まづ酒に梅売る匂ひかな
. shoshun mazu sake ni ume uru nioi kana .
New Year, sake and plum blossoms



旅人と我が名呼ばれん初時雨
. . . . . tabibito to waga na yobaren hatsu shigure .
(winter) first winter drizzle. traveller. my name.



柳行李片荷は涼し初真桑
. yanagigoori katani wa suzushi hatsu makuwa .
(summer) first melon. wicker box luggage. coolness


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- - - - - hajime　初め, はじめ　　- - - - -

風流の初めや奥の田植歌
. fuuryuu no hajime ya Oku no taue uta .
(summer) planting rice in the paddies, Oku, furyu-the elegant, acomplished


花を宿に始め終りや二十日ほど
. hana no yado ni hajime owari ya hatsuka hodo .
(spring) cherry blossoms. from beginning to end about 20 days


十六夜はわづかに闇の初め哉
. izayoi wa wazuka ni yami no hajime kana .
(autumn) sixteenth night moon. beginning of darkness


大津絵の筆のはじめは何仏
. Ootsu e no fude no hajime wa nani botoke .
(New Year) first use of the brush. Otsu-e paintings. Buddha image


暫時は滝に籠るや夏の初め
. shibaraku wa taki ni komoru ya ge no hajime .
(summer) waterfall. summer retreat. for some time


七夕や秋を定むる夜のはじめ　
. Tanabata ya aki o sadamuru yo no hajime .
(autumn) Tanabata star festival. now autumn has really come
at the home of Yadoo 野童 Yado in Kyoto


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- - - - - some そめ - - - - -

新藁の出初めて早き時雨哉
. shinwara no desomete hayaki shigure kana .
new straw is already coming out


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This hokku includes the character of HATSU 初,
but in the old spelling of Hase長谷, Hatsuse 初瀬, a place and temple near Nara.

うかれける人や初瀬の山桜
. ukarekeru hito ya Hatsuse no yamazakura .
ukare-keru hito ya Hatsuse no yama-zakura
(spring) mountain cherry blossoms. people wander around at Hase temple


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. WKD : First Things, New Things .


. Cultural Keywords used by Basho .


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izayoi moon

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- izayoi 十六夜 moon on night 16 - sixteenth night moon -

The nights after the full autumn moon !
I count them as "day x", refering to the counting of the days of the eighth lunar month. Rememer, this refers to the times without electricity.

.... izayoo tsuki いざよう月（いざようつき）"hesitant moon"
..... juurokuya 十六夜（じゅうろくや）night on the 16th day
..... kibou, kibo-u 既望（きぼう）

The moon shows up just a bit later than the full moon on the day before, as if it was hesitant (izayou, tamerau) to come back.


There were also two special nights when people could enjoy to wait for the full moon outside,
niijuroku ya machi 二十六夜待 waiting on the night of the 26


source :　www.kabuki-za.com
People went to an eatery, looking at the sea in Edo and enjoyed some special fish dishes.


. WKD : Moon in autumn (aki no tsuki) .


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いざよひもまだ更科の郡哉
izayoi mo mada Sarashina no koori kana

on the night of the sixteenth moon too
I am still here at this hometown
of Sarashina . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve

Written in 元禄元年, Basho age 45.
Basho stayed at an inn at the east side of mount Ubasute-yama. He had liked the full moon the night before so much that he decided to stay on one more night.
sarashina is also a pun with saranu 去らぬ - not to leave a place
This hokku has the cut marker at the end of line 3.

更級紀行 Sarashina Kiko
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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いざよひのいずれか今朝に残る菊
いざよひのいづれか今朝に残る菊
izayoi no izure ka kesa ni nokoru kiku

sixteenth night moon -
or is it this morning's
lingering chrysanthemums?
Tr. Barnhill

another version is

十六夜の月と見はやせ残る菊
十六夜の月と見やはせ残る菊
izayoi no tsuki to mi hayase nokoru kiku

On the 10th day of the 9th lunar month, 1688 貞亨5年.
They held a kukai meeting of seven poets, with Sodo, Ransetsu, Kikaku and others.
The 9th day of the 9th lunar month is the festival of the chrysanthemums.
On the following two days (10 and 11) there was a special meeting at the imperial court, kiku ne en 残菊の宴 "banquet for the remaining chrysanthemums", but this was the banquet for Basho and his haikai friends.

izayoi is a word usually used for the moon on then next best day, but here Basho uses it for the next best day to view chrysanthemums. The best day for the chrysanthemums is the ninth day (of the ninth lunar month).


Chrysanthemum and hokku by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


Basho in Edo at the home of Yamaguchi Sodoo 山口素堂 Yamaguchi Sodo
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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source :　yuhmsk/folder


十六夜はわづかに闇の初め哉　
十六夜はわづかに闇の初哉
izayoi wa wazuka ni yami no hajime kana

sixteenth night moon -
ever so slightly
the darkening begins
Tr. Barnhill

Written on the 16th day of the 8th lunar month in 1693 - 元禄6年8月16日

another version read

十六夜はとりわけ闇の初め哉
izayoi wa toriwake yami no hajime kana


MORE about first things, beginning of things
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .



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やすやすと出でていざよふ月の雲
yasuyasu to idete izayou tsuki no kumo

he came out so easily
but now he hesitates -
moon in the clouds

Written in 1691 元禄４年８月１６日 , Basho age 48.


The night before he had been moon-watching at temple 義仲寺 Gichu-Ji, and the next night they went to Katata.



Katata Izayoi no Ben 堅田十六夜の弁
On the same night at Katata , Basho also wrote


十六夜や海老煮るほどの宵の闇
. izayoi ya ebi niru hodo no yoi no yami .

sixteenth night moon --
just enough time to boil shrimp
in the night's darkness
Tr. Barnhill


Now there is also the Izayoi Park 十六夜公園 at Katata.

. Katata, Katada 堅田 and Basho at Lake Biwa .


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. WKD : Moon in autumn (aki no tsuki) .


. Cultural Keywords used by Basho .

. - KIGO used by Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - .


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kiku chrysanthemum

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- kiku 菊 chrysanthemum -
- chooyoo 重陽 chrysanthemum festival -

chooyoo 重陽 (ちょうよう) "double prime number nine"
..... chookyuu 重九 "double nine" - Double Nine Day

okunichi (おくにち) "Honorable Day with a Nine", kunichi 九日
okunchi おくんち、kunchi くんち
The ninth of the ninth lunar month.
Nowadays often celebrated on the 9th of october.

September 9, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month ...
Now mostly held in October, celebrating the end of the harvest time.
It was one of the five special "double" days with double prime numbers, which are auspicious in the Lunar calendar,

. WKD : Chrysanthemum (kiku) .
dew on chrysanthemums, kiku no tsuyu 菊の露

plant kigo for all autumn

and also nogiku, wild chrysanthemum


by Hasegawa Keika

more TBA - for usu　臼 hand mill, see below
In alphabetical order
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秋を経て蝶もなめるや菊の露　
aki o hete / chō mo nameru ya / kiku no tsuyu
autumn, butterfly, chrysanthemum


朝茶飲む僧静かなり菊の花
. asacha nomu soo shizuka nari kiku no hana .


蝶も来て酢を吸ふ菊の膾哉
chō mo kite / su o sūkiku no / namasu kana



初霜や菊冷え初むる腰の綿　
. hatsu shimo ya kiku hie somuru koshi no wata .
(autumn) chrysanthemums. first frost. cotton wrapper around my hip


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早く咲け九日も近し菊の花　
hayaku sake kunichi mo chikashi kiku no hana

hurry up to bloom -
the Ninth Day is near for you,
chrysanthemum flowers
Tr. Gabi Greve

Written on the 4th day of the 9th lunar month 元禄2年9月4日 〔1689.10.16〕 during his trip Oku no Hosomichi.
He stayed at the samurai home of Asai Saryuu 浅井左柳 Asai Saryu in Ogaki 大垣 and this is his hokku at the haikai meeting.
Basho had to leave Asai again on the 6th of the ninth lunar month on his way to Ise.

another version is

早う咲け九日も近し宿の菊
hayoo sake kunichi mo shikashi yado no kiku

hurry up to bloom -
the Ninth Day is near for you,
chrysanthemums by this house
Tr. Gabi Greve


Asai Saryuu 浅井左柳 Asai Saryu
Not much is known about him. His name was Genbei 源兵衛.

Two of his poems from Zoku Sarumino 續猿蓑

鮭の簀の寒氣をほどく初日哉　
名月や草のくらみに白き花　


- - - Station 43 - Oogaki 大垣 Ogaki - - -
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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一露もこぼさぬ菊の氷かな
hito tsuyu mo / kobosanu kiku no / kōri kana
chrysanthemum, ice


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稲こきの姥もめでたし菊の花　
ine koki no uba mo medetashi kiku no hana

how laudable also
this old woman threashing rice -
chrysanthemum flowers

. Basho at Temple Menshooji 妙法山明照寺 .
Hikone, Shiga
Chrysanthemums are a symbol of long life and this old woman was still doing her chores at the old farmhouse. She is to be appraised and celebrated just as the chrysanthemum flowers.

Written in October in 1692 元禄4年, Basho age 48.



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いざよひのいずれか今朝に残る菊　
. izayoi no izure ka kesa ni nokoru kiku .
izayoi is a word usually used for the moon on then next best day, but here Basho uses it for the next best day to view chrysanthemums. The best day for the chrysanthemums is the ninth day (of the ninth lunar month).




影待や菊の香のする豆腐串　
. kagemachi ya kiku no ka no suru toofugushi .
Tofu bean curd on sticks



隠れ家や月と菊とに田三反　
kakurega ya / tsuki to kiku to ni / ta san tan



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- - - - - kangiku 寒菊 chrysanthemum in the cold


寒菊や醴造る窓の前　
. kangiku ya amazake tsukuru mado no saki .

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寒菊や粉糠のかかる臼の端
kangiku ya ko nuka no kakaru usu no hata

quote
The following verse on chrysanthemums, for example, literally places the heavily loaded conventional image in a quotidian “run-of-the-mill” scene.

Winter chrysanthemums
covered by the rice bran
beside the hand mill.

The juxtaposition of two or more images and topics in an opening verse is a typical structure of Shômon haikai and is termed toriawase (combination). Bashô once said:
“One should know that hokku is a construction of combination. Combinations that come from conventional themes are rarely superior; they are mostly stale.”
The hokku above testifies to Bashô’s conviction and sets chrysanthemums outside the conventional periphery of associations: instead of suggesting elegance or the life of a recluse, as seen in Bashô’s earlier haibun on his plantain hut that imitates Tao Qian’s poetry, here chrysanthemums are accompanied by a “hand mill,” an extremely common item in an ordinary person’s life in Bashô’s time.
To achieve novelty and naturalness through unconventional combinations was an important technique Bashô used in his last years; by so doing he shook off the heavy conceptual meanings the old traditions had loaded upon poetic images and brought them back to a natural lightness.
source : Basho-and-the-Dao - Peipei-Qiu




Different types of USU 臼


. The hand mill of the Kappa - folktale .



Winter Chrysanthemums !
Coated with falling rice bran
From the hand-mill nearby.
Tr. Oseko

This was a lighthearted (karumi) hokku of a linked verse meeting with his disciple Shida Yaba 志太野坡.


Written in 1693 元禄6年, Basho age 50.
This hokku has the cut marker YA at the end of line 1.
Basho was sitting outside in the sunshine of his garden, pounding rice with a mortar and mallet (or a handmill) to prepare mochi ricecakes. Some of the flour fell on the chrysanthemums and looked almost like snow.


stone marker at the temple Kikusui-Ji 菊水寺 in Chichibu, Saitama
This is temple nr. 33 at the Chichibu Kannon Pilgrimage.
The name of the temple means "Chrysanthemum Water".

kangiku, lit. "chrysanthemum in the cold"
. fuyugiku 冬菊 winter chrysanthemum .


. Basho and the chausu, cha usu 茶臼 tea-grinding mill * .

. WKD : kazariusu 飾臼 New Year decoration for the mortar .

. ishiusu zuka 石臼塚 mound with old used stone mortars .
Hoosenji 宝仙寺 Hosen-Ji, Tokyo

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菊鶏頭切り尽しけり御命講　
kiku keitoo kiri tsukushi keri Omeikō
. for Nichiren, Saint Nichiren 日蓮 .
and
御命講や油のような酒五升
Omeiki ya abura no yoo na sake go masu

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菊に出て奈良と難波は宵月夜　
. kiku ni dete Nara to Naniwa wa yoi zukiyo .

Naniwa is the old name of Osaka.


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菊の花咲くや石屋の石の間　
kiku no hana / saku ya ishiya no / ishi no ai

菊の香にくらがり登る節句かな　
kiku no ka ni / Kuragari noboru / Sekku kana



菊の香や奈良には古き仏達 - all about the old capital of NARA
. kiku no ka ya Nara ni wa furuki hotoketachi .
- - -
菊の香や奈良は幾代の男ぶり
kiku no ka ya / Nara wa iku yo no / otoko buri



菊の香や庭に切れたる履の底
. kiku no ka ya niwa ni kiretaru kutsu no soko .


菊の後大根の外更になし
kiku no nochi / daikon no hoka / sara ni nashi

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菊の露落ちて拾へば零余子かな
kiku no tsuyu ochite hiroeba nukago kana

a chrysanthemum drops its dew,
but when I pick it up:
a brood bud
Tr. Barnhill

. propagule 零余子 (むかご) mukago, nukago .

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琴箱や古物店の背戸の菊　
. kotobako ya furumono dana no sedo no kiku .



草の戸や日暮れてくれし菊の酒　
. kusa no to ya higurete kureshi kiku no sake .
chrysanthemum sake, chrysanthemum ricewine


見所のあれや野分の後の菊
midokoro no / are ya nowaki no / nochi no kiku


撫子の暑さ忘るる野菊かな
nadeshiko no / atsusa wasururu / no-giku kana



起きあがる菊ほのかなり水のあと
okiagaru / kiku honokanari / mizu no ato


折々は酢になる菊の肴かな
ori ori wa / su ni naru kiku no / sakana kana



盃の下ゆく菊や朽木盆
. sakazuki no shita yuku kiku ya kutsuki bon .
(autumn) chrysanthemum. sake cup. tray from Kitsuki



盃や山路の菊と是を干す
. sakazuki ya yamaji no kiku to kore o hosu .
(autumn) chrysanthemum. this sake cup. mountain road. I drink it all

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shiragiku, shira-giku 白菊 white chrysanthemum

白菊の目に立てて見る塵もなし
. shiragiku no me ni tatete miru chiri mo nashi .
for Shiba Sonome 斯波園女


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白菊よ白菊よ恥長髪よ長髪よ　
shiragiku yo shiragiku yo haji naga kami yo naga kami yo

Written when Basho was around 40 years.
This is a poem expanding on the proverb
- 寿多ければ恥多し / 命長ければ恥多し "Long life has long misery."
"If life is long there is a lot to be ashamed of."
"The longer you live, the more shame you suffer."

The white chrysanthemum is compared to a long life.
The long white petals are compared to the white hair (long life).
(BTW, this is considered of one of Basho's "tsumaranai" trivial poems.

The kireji YO is used four times, but not to CUT, but to emphasize the astonishment, surprise, exclamation.
The word YO is part of the normal Japanese language, not just a kireji for hokku/haiku.
The actual CUT in the meaning is after the word HAJI - shame.
Basho did not use the cut marker YA, which is only used in poetry, but not in normal language.

- - - imagine this - it reads quite strange in Japanese -
shira-giku ya shiragiku ya haji naga kami ya naga kami ya


. - kire 切れ　and kireji 切字　- cut and cut markers . 　　



white chrysanthemum, white chrysanthemum
all that shame with your
long hair, long hair
Tr. Barnhill

shaggy white chrysanthemums
your long hair a disgrace
such long hair　
Tr. Jane Reishhold - 180


Oh you white chrysanthemum!
Oh you white chrysanthemum!
shame - Oh this long hair !
Oh this long hair!
Tr. Gabi Greve

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山中や菊は手折らぬ湯の匂ひ
. Yamanaka ya kiku o taoranu yu no nioi .
(autumn) chrysanthemum. Yamanaka hot spring. Fragrance



痩せながりわりなき菊のつぼみ哉
yase nagara / warinaki kiku no / tsubomi kana


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. WKD : Chrysanthemum (kiku 菊) .


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kari goose geese

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- kari, gan 雁 / 鴈 goose geese -

. WKD : Goose, geese (kari, gan) .
This refers to the wild geese.
kigo for late autumn

good by for the geese, kari no wakare 雁の別れ
kigo for late spring




source :　www.hoshun.jp
Yamaguchi Hooshun 山口蓬春と水禽図 Water Birds


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病雁の夜寒に落ちて旅寝哉
byoogan no yosamu ni ochite tabine kana
byōgan no yosamu ni ochite tabine kana

a wild goose falls
ill in the cold night;
itinerant sleep
Tr. Haldane


a sick goose
falling in the night’s cold:
sleep on a journey
Tr. Barnhill


like a sick goose
fallen ill on a cold night
I sleep on this journey . . .
Paraverse Gabi Greve


Written in 1689 元禄3年９月, Basho age 47.
Basho was visiting friends at the temple 本福寺 Honpuku-Ji in Katata (Katada) and fell ill himself. His disciple Mikami Senna 三上千那 cared for him.

This hokku has the cut marker KANA at the end of line 3.




Ando Hiroshige - Descending  Geese at Katata 堅田の落雁
One of the 8 scenes of Omi 近江八景

. Basho in Katata 堅田 .


MORE - hokku about - - - tabine 旅寝 sleeping on the road - - -
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

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Mikami Senna 三上千那
(1650 - 1723) （慶安3年 - 享保8年4月27日）



11. generation priest at temple 本福寺 Honpuku-Ji in Katata, Otsu 大津堅田.
He was the leading figure of the Basho disciples in Otsu (Ootsu Shoomon 大津蕉門).

He met Basho during the Nozarashi travels and became his disciple in 1685.
When Basho visited his temple in 1689, Basho fell ill.
In 1707 he moved to the retreat "Grove of 100 Plum Trees" 千梅林 of Tanakka Senri.
In 1712 he attained the Buddhist name of Kanno-In 感応院.

In 1743, for the 50th death-anniversary of Matsuo Basho, Tanaka Senri built a memorial marker for Bahso.


- - - - - Hokku by Senna

唇に墨つく児のすゝみ哉

高燈籠昼はものうきはしら哉




近江の蕉門 Basho disciples from Omi
source : michiko328


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雁聞きに京の秋に赴かん
. kari kiki ni miyako no aki ni omomukan .
to listen to the geese I will set out to the capital



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source :　itoyo/basho

鶏頭や鴈の来る時なほあかし
keitoo ya kari no kuru toki nao akashi

these cockscombs -
as the geese arrive
they turn even more red
Tr. Gabi Greve

Written in 1694 元禄７年, Basho age 51.

The Chinese characters of another name for this plant is
ganraikoo 雁来紅 "becoming crimson when the geese come"
. WKD : keitoo 鶏頭 (けいとう) cockscomb, .
kara ai no hana 韓藍の花 flower of Korean indigo
hageitoo 葉鶏頭 amaranth - Amaranthus tricolor.
- kigo for autumn

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雲とへだつ友かや雁の生き別れ
kumo to hedatsu tomo ka ya kari no ikiwakare

like clouds drifting apart,
a wild goose separates, for now,
from his friend
Tr. Barnhill


as clouds drift apart
a wild goose now separates
from his only friend
Tr. Chilcott


Clouds will separate
The two friends, after migrating
Wild goose's departure.
Tr. Yuasa



Written in 1672, Basho age 29. 寛文12
Basho had left Iga Ueno and begun to live in Edo.

His young lord and friend Sengin had died 6 years ago in Iga Ueno, but Basho now has to leave back the memories and move on with his own life.
Basho also had to leave behind a lot of other friends in Iga Ueno.

. Sengin 蝉吟 (1642 - 1666) "Cicada poet" .

This hokku has the segments 6 7 5 and the cut marker YA in the middle of line 2.


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. WKD : Goose, geese (kari, gan) .
kigo for late autumn


. Cultural Keywords used by Basho .

. - KIGO used by Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - .


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kodomo - children

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- kodomo 子供 child, children -

ko 子 child
sutego 捨子 abandoned child
warabe 童部 child

. WKD : kodomo 子供 child, children .


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猿を聞人捨子に秋の風いかに
saru o kiku hito sutego ni aki no kaze ika ni

those who have heard a monkey's cry:
how about this abandoned child
in the autumn wind?
(Tr. Makoto Ueda)


a monkey shriek—
for this abandoned child,
what is the autumn wind like?

or

You who hear the monkey’s cries:
what of an abandoned child
in the autumn wind?
Reference : translations of this haiku


those who listen for the monkeys:
what of this child
in the autumn wind?
Tr. Barnhill
with further discussion of "mono no aware" .


. Nozarashi Kiko 　野ざらし紀行 . "Journal of Bleached Bones in a Field"



The story of a mother monkey ready to give her life for her baby is told in a Chinese classic, 世説新語. Shi-shuo Xin-yu.
The book tells the story of a mother monkey who runs along a riverbank following a boat carrying her captured baby. When she reaches the boat she is so exhausted that she dies with her strong emotions of love and longing.

The Japanese proverb danchoo no omoi 断腸の思い , a "bowls-rending thought", is based on this.


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霜を着て風を敷き寝の捨子哉　
shimo o kite kaze o shikine no sutego kana

it wears frost
and has the wind for a blanket,
this abandoned child . . .

Written in 延宝5年, Basho age 34.
Basho did not see an abandoned child.
But he presents the situation as if he was heartbroken (danchoo no omoi 断腸の思い )lit. "a bowles-rending thought".
The cut marker KANA is at the end of line 3.


This is a parody of a waka poem by Fujiwara Ryookei 良経 Ryokei (1169-1206) .

きりぎりす鳴くや霜夜のさむしろに - 衣かたしきひとりかもねむ

The crickets are singing and the mist is rising on this cool night.
Am I to sleep alone on the sleeve of my kimono on this rough straw mat?
source for waka : www.shigureden.or.jp


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いざ子供走りありかん玉霰
. iza kodomo hashiri arikan tamaarare (tama-arare) .
At a Haikai meeting in Iga Ueno, at the home of 良品 Ryobon.
Maybe Basho is seeing his haikai friends as the "children" and wants to go out with them playing.


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子ども等よ昼顔咲きぬ瓜むかん
. kodomora yo hiragao sakinu uri mukan .
come on, children, I'll peel a melon !

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子に飽くと申す人には花もなし
ko ni aku to moosu hito ni wa hana mo nashi

For one who says,
"I am tired of children,"
there are no blossoms.

When love is absent, cherry blossoms go unappreciated ...

Robert Aitken ... more
source : books.google.co.jp


MORE
. Matsuo Basho - Family Ties .
His Wife ? Jutei-Ni 寿貞尼
His Son ? Jirobei 二郎兵衛
His nephew Tooin 桃印　Toin

The above hokku is (most probably) for the three children of his wife.


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里の子よ梅折り残せ牛の鞭　
sato no ko yo ume orinokose ushi no muchi

hey village kids,
leave some plum branches:
ox whips
Tr. Barnhill

Written in 1687 貞亨4年春, while Basho was living in Edo.

The image might be of a boy leading an ox or a cow, using a branch as a whip.

There is also an earlier version

里の子よ鞭折り残せ梅の花
sato no ko yo muchi ori-nokose ume no hana


. WKD : ume 梅 (うめ) plum (blossom) .
kigo for spring


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賎の子や稲摺りかけて月を見る
. shizu no ko ya ine surikakete tsuki o miru .
children of low folks, farmer's children, peasant children . . .

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月十四日今宵三十九の童部　
tsuki juuyokka koyoi sanjuu ku no warabe

moon on day fourteen -
tonight I am still thirty-nine
and a child

Written in 天和2年, Basho age 39.
Written at a haikai meeting in the village Kuniyamura in Kaii 甲斐國谷村 at the home of Takayama Biji 高山麋塒.

The full moon was on day fifteen of each lunar month. So on day 14 it is still incomplete.
A man was considered a "full man" at age 40. Since Basho was just 39 years of age, he considers himself still a "child".

. 高山繁文 Takayama Shigefumi - Biji 麋塒 .


There is also a famous children's song about the moon:



お月さま幾つ、十三七つ、まだ年ア若い / お月さまなんぼ十三、七つ そりゃまんだ若いな . . .
O-tsuki sama ikutsu sanjuu nanatsu

Mister Moon, how old are you? Thirty-seven? That is still so young. . .

Listen to the song here:
source : www.youtube.com

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mago　孫 grandchildren

祖父親孫の栄えや柿蜜柑
. ooji oya mago no sakae ya kaki mikan .


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- Matsuo Basho - Blessings unto Kasane -


source : unizaru.blog.ocn.ne.jp - cat


. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .
Oku no Hosomichi - Station 6 - Nasu 那須 -

So I mounted the horse and started off, when two small children came running after me. One of them was a girl named kasane, which means manifold. I thought her name was somewhat strange but exceptionally beautiful.

If your name, Kasane,
Means manifold,
How befitting it is also
For a double-flowered pink.
Tr. Yuasa

Sora 曽良

かさねとは八重撫子の名成べし
kasane to wa yae nadeshiko no naru beshi



"Double"
must be another name
for "Eightfold Pink"

. WKD - Nadeshiko - Comment by Ad Blankenstijn .


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quote
- Matsuo Basho - Blessings unto Kasane -
Translations and Commentary by Jeff Robbins
With Assistance from Sakata Shoko

Introduction
In his world famous travel journal Oku no Hosomichi, Basho tells of being lost among the fields of Tochigi in the summer of 1689 and finding a kind, considerate farmer who loans them his horse as a guide – ―When the horse will go no further, just let it return‖. As Basho rides and his traveling companion Sora walks away, the farmer‘s two small children, fascinated to see the strange, funny man riding their daddy‘s workhorse:

(From A Narrow Path in the Heartlands)

Two small persons
come running after the horse,
one a little girl
who says her name is
“Kasane”.

Chisaki mono futari ちいさきものふたり
Uma no ato shitaite hashiru 馬の跡したひてはしる
Hitori wa ko-hime nite ひとりは小娘にて
Na o Kasane to iu 名を「かさね」と云


This is ordinarily not a name, but rather a word for - "to pile up in layers, one on top of another".
Furthermore, in the dimension of time, Kasane means - "to reoccur, again and again, in succession"

snip the drawing

The travelers went north, then west, then south; summer passed, then autumn and winter. Now with the cherry blossoms of 1690 in bloom, Basho is in Zeze (Otsu City) near the southern tip of Lake Biwa. (Here Basho requested he be buried, so in Gichuji Temple he remains.)

Someone has asked Basho to choose a name for a newborn baby girl. Basho remembers the Kasane in the Deep North, and passes her name on to the newborn. The following haibun (haiku-like essay) ending in a tanka (the classical form for Japanese poetry) is his prayer for the child‘s happiness and longevity.

(Basho‘s haibun Blessings Unto Kasane)

During my pilgrimage to the Deep North, in one of the villages was a little girl who looked no more than five years old.
She was so small and indescribably charming that I asked her name, and she said “Kasane”.
What an interesting name! In Kyoto rarely is it heard so I wonder how has it has passed down
and what is that “layers, again and again”?

The farmer and his wife wanted a special name for their daughter, not just a name fashionable in Kyoto. What were they thinking of when they linked her heritage and destiny to this lovely multi-faceted word?

“If I had a child this name she would receive,”
I remember saying in jest to my traveling companion and now, unexpectedly, through an acquaintance I have been called on to be Name-giving Parent.

Without being biological parent, Basho gets the magical opportunity to give life through a name and through a poem.

Blessings unto Kasane
Spring passes by
Again and again in layers
Of blossom-kimono
May you see wrinkles
Come with old age

Basho

The words of the tanka may seem simple, however the double and triple meanings:

・the springs shall pass by again and again…
・the layers of kimono, lining and under kimono…
・as the years of your life pile up, the succession of your blossom kimono from bright to sedate…
・each kimono passing onto your daughter,the next layer of yourself…
・wrinkles in the kimono and wrinkles on your face…

weave together to form a web of Blessing and Hope for Kasane and all female children.

- Kasane o gasu
Iku haru o kasane gasane no hana-goromo
shiwa yoru made no oi mo miru beku
Basho

- 賀重
いく春をかさねがさねの花ごろも
しはよるまでの老もみるべく

ばせを

A formal kimono is a two-layer silk robe worn over an under robe, meticulously folded and tucked around the body in flat, even layers. The colors and pattern are chosen in harmony with the woman‘s age. A "blossom-kimono" for a girl entering womanhood might be a soft pink with bold cherry blossom design on the lower portion. A thick brocade sash of a darker contrasting color encircles her waist. The red inner robe shows at the neckline, and where the left side of the skirt covers the right, margins of the kimono lining appear and disappear as she walks.

Kasane, now your time begins, stretching to infinity before unfocused eyes. Soon you‘ll be laughing and playing in the sunshine – that is if no wars come and natural disasters, fatal illness, and financial ruin stay away too. One spring in youth, you shall be given your first "blossom-kimono", an exquisite robe to be worn just once a year to view cherry blossoms, then folded up and stored away until the next time to celebrate Spring under cherry blossoms.

The springs shall come and go with clouds of pink blossoms filling the treetops to fall in a shower of petals as you blossom into a young lady elegant in your impeccably layered kimono. Each year you sit with legs folded under you on the straw mat at a blossom viewing party, creases shall form in the fabric. Carefully, as your mother shows you restore its silky smoothness for another year. I pray the day comes for you to pass this youthful kimono onto your daughter, while you wear one more moderate in color and pattern – and this too passes onto her, and you to the dark and sedate colors of an older woman.

So Kasane, may our nation remain at Peace and the happiness in your family pile up layer upon layer until wrinkles in the fabric no longer smooth out, and you see wrinkles of old age cross your face. Do not despair, my child, for you live again and again as spring passes by and your granddaughters laugh and chatter in their blossom kimono.


The haibun Blessings Unto Kasane and the tanka SPRING PASSES BY offer hope to the smallest females—hope for a childhood without misfortune, hope that she will grow into womanhood and see grandchildren—yet this Message of Hope has been swept under the rug.

A few comprehensive Basho anthologies do give the tanka (e.g. Nihon Koten Bungaku Zenshu volume 71, page 284-85) buried among six hundred pages where nobody notices it. Since I discovered Blessings Unto Kasane thirty years ago I have searched through hundreds of books on haiku, Basho,, or Japanese literature, both English and Japanese, and found no mention of this work. The few male scholars who know of it find it trivial, not worth discussing.

Women, when they know of this work, may see it differently. In the few simple light words of the Tanaka, Basho speaks of what concerns women the succession of life, the happiness of children—the conditions of Peace, both social and family peace, in which little girls can dress up and party with relatives and friends, and life goes on generation after generation. The poem encapsulates the entire life of one woman from newborn to wrinkles in five lines. Has any poet ever reached so deeply into the heart of life.

snip

If you wish to help spread the awareness of Basho‘s poem, - - feel free to download this essay from our home page.

Email: basho4women2youth@yahoo.com
URL: http://www.basho4women2youth.join-us.jp

Basho on women and children 芭蕉：女性と子ども
The warm affectionate Basho　 暖かく、感情込った芭蕉　

- - - - - Manuscripts
①　　Blessings Unto Kasane
②　　かさねを賀す
③　　Icons　of　the　Feminine
④　　芭蕉における女性像　

Women and Girls: The Feminine Works of Matsuo Basho
By Jeff Robbins – Basho Researcher
Assisted by Sakata Shoko – Certified Japanese Language Instructor
- - - - - source : www.basho4women2youth.



. yanagi gasane 柳重 Kasane willow robes for spring .

. Matsuo Basho Archives - His Life and Works .

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. Cultural Keywords used by Basho .

. - KIGO used by Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - .


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Meigetsu harvest moon

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- meigetsu 名月 harvest moon

The full moon of the eighth lunar month, now in September.

This refers to the Chinese custom of celebrating the full moon.
People celebrated the changes of all things, now from a full moon to the waning moon.
There are many different customs in various regions of Japan to celebrate this day with special offerings and rituals.
For example sweet potatoes, edamame beans, moon-viewing dumplings and susuki reed grass.
In some areas, the day 13 is also celebrated in this way, but more often in the ninth lunar month.

. WKD : meigetsu 名月 "famous moon" harvest moon .





under construction
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名月に麓の霧や田の曇り
meigetsu ni / fumoto no kiri ya / ta no kumori

The harvest moon
and the fog at the mountain foot—
mists over the field.

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名月の花かと見えて綿畠
meigetsu no / hana ka to miete / wata-batake

As if blossoms have fallen
from the harvest moon—
the cotton field

quote
While both poems depict the view under the harvest moon, the ¤rst one is a simple and straightforward portrait, which Dohô describes as “the style of the unchanging.”
The second uses explicit symbols. It gives the traditional poetic images, the moon and the flower, fresh significance.

Instead of using hana in its conventional way to mean cherry blossoms specifically as a seasonal word for spring, here it describes the beautiful whiteness of cotton bolls reflecting the bright light of the harvest moon, an image that traditionally signifies the autumn season.
The presentation of the moon in the second poem also departs from its conventional hon’i: while portraying the harvest moon, the poetic vision focuses, not on the moon, nor on its surroundings, but on the cotton field on the earth. It heightens the charm and miraculous power of the moonlight through its reflection on the cotton, which had not been considered a poetic image in classical tradition.

Despite these novel conceptions, the verse shows no trace of striving for ingenuity. The images naturally evoke an autumn moonlight view and the beholder’s feeling. This kind of novelty out of naturalness is the variety that Bashô wished to pursue: change that shares the same base with constancy.
source : Basho-and-the-Dao - Peipei-Qiu


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名月の出づるや五十一ヶ条
meigetsu no / izuru ya goyū / ichi kajō


名月の見所問はん旅寝せん
. meigetsu no midokoro towan tabine sen .
Oku no Hosomichi, in Fukui

名月はふたつ過ぎても瀬田の月
meigetsu wa / futatsu sugite mo / Seta no tsuki

. meigetsu ya chigotachi narabu doo no en .
(autumn) moon. temple acolytes

名月や北国日和定めなき
. meigetsu ya Hokkoku biyori sadame naki .
at Tsuruga

名月や池をめぐりて夜もすがら
. meigetsu ya ike o megurite yo mo sugara . yomosugara
(autumn) moon, pond, night

名月や門に指しくる潮頭
. meigetsu ya mon ni sashi kuru shiogashira .
(autumn) moon. my gate. rising tide

名月や鶴脛高き遠干潟
. meigetsu ya tsuru hagi takaki too higata .
(autumn) moon. lower legs of cranes. far tidal flats

名月や海に向かへば七小町
. meigetsu ya umi ni mukaeba nana Komachi .
(autumn) moon. the sea.
- remembering the Heian-beauty Ono no Komachi 小野 小町

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source : PW_paperback

夏かけて名月暑き涼み哉
natsu kakete meigetsu atsuki suzumi kana

past summer
the full moon night is still so hot
I feel "summer coolness" . . .

Written on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of 1693 元禄6年8月15日.
The cut marker KANA is at the end of line 3.
The main kigo here is the "full moon of autumn". Basho uses three words to indicate the heat:
natsu - summer
atsuki - it is hot
suzumi - to feel cool in summer


In this hot summer of 1683, Basho had lost all of his energy and shut down his haikai "workshop".
閉関.


Matsuo Basho and
. - suzumi 涼み - すゞみ to enjoy a cool breeze in summer - .


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雪と雪今宵師走の名月か　
yuki to yuki / koyoi shiwasu no / meigetsu ka


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. WKD : meigetsu 名月 "famous moon" harvest moon .


. KIGO used by Basho .


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Momi suru oto

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- Momi suru Oto 籾する音 The Sound of Hulling Rice -



source :　agri_school/a_kome

drying and hulling rice in the Edo period
乾燥・もみすり（江戸時代（元禄））



. WKD : momisuri 籾摺 hulling rice .
kigo for late autumn



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momi suru oto 籾する音

大和國長尾の里と云処ハ、さすがに都遠きにあらず、山里ながら山里に似ず。あるじ心有さまにて、老いたる母のおハしけるを、其家のかたへにしつらひ、庭前に木草のおかしげなるを植置て、岩尾めづらかにすゑなし、手づから枝をたハめ石を撫ては、「此山蓬莱の嶋ともなりね、生薬とりてんよ」と老母につかへ、慰めなんどせし実有けり。
「家貧して孝をあらハす」とこそ聞なれ、貧しからずして功を尽す。古人も難事になんいゝける。

冬しらぬ宿やもミする音あられ
fuyu shiranu yado ya momi suru oto arare

source : itoyo/basho



竹の内滞在中のことを綴った句文
source : bashouan.com/Database


The mountain village of Nagao in the province of Yamato is not so far from the capital and thus not quite a typical "mountain village" . . .
It has the atmosphere of the "Holy Horai Mountain" of ancient China.

. hoorai 蓬莱 Buddhist mountain Horai .
a mountain in China, where people would live forever.

The farmer had built a separate room (inkyobeya　隠居部屋) for his aging mother in the back yard.

The village is located close to
. Temple Taimadera 当麻寺 .

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no winter is known
in this home - hulling rice with the sound
of hail
Tr. Gabi Greve


Written in 1684, 貞亨元年、Basho age 41.

This hokku has the cut marker YA in the middle of line 2.

. のざらし紀行 Nozarashi Kiko .
夏炉一路


Basho visited the area around Takenouchi Village 竹之内村 and Nagao　長尾.
He observed a son hulling the rice carefully to give good food to his old mother.


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- by Chris Drake


fuyu shiranu yado ya momi-suru oto arare

hail hits a house
where there are no winters --
rice-hulling sounds

This is a late autumn hokku from the middle of the 9th month (October) in 1684, when Basho was visiting someone in the Nagao area south of Nara, not far from Taima Temple, where Chujo-hime was believed to have woven her large Pure Land Mandala.

The man, a wealthy farmer, was warm-hearted and took care of his aged mother very well. He built her a small house behind the main house where she could have some privacy, and he designed a garden around her house that looked like Mt. Horai (Penglai in Chinese) on the legendary Daoist Island of Immortality located somewhere out in the eastern sea. On this island there were said to be no winters or pain, fresh fruit was always available, and an elixir of immortality could be taken. Basho says the farmer designed the garden as the closest thing possible on this earth to the island's elixir of immortality, since he wanted his mother to live many more years.

Hearing and seeing this, Basho greeted the man with the above hokku. It has irony, hyperbole, and humor. The house (actually two houses, the main house and the mother's smaller house in the garden) is so warm with human feeling that winter never really comes to it, and yet the first hail of the winter seems to be falling on it now, making quite a racket. How could this possibly be? The answer of course is that the sound isn't made by hail but is the somewhat similar loud grinding sound made by people just outside hulling rice with a stone or earthen mortar. In this way Basho praises his host more strongly by denying the opposite, telling him his house is truly a Daoist paradise on earth filled with familial love and warmth in which the closest thing to winter isn't related to winter at all: the hail-like sounds turn out to be related to the source of warm food.

The farmers just outside or perhaps in a special workroom of the house aren't beating the rice but are operating one or more advanced mortars (invented in China) in which a revolving upper grindstone has replaced the less efficient pestle used in earlier centuries.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the first site below you can see a contemporary picture from the Edo period of five farmers operating a hulling mortar with a long wooden crankshaft.


福岡・浮羽町の諏訪神社

source : syokunou.ne




stone mortar 石臼（いしうす）

The second site has a photo from the early part of the 20th century.
The mortars must have made quite a noise!
source : kamiya-e/mukasinokurasi

Chris Drake


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. Basho visiting - Hoorai san 蓬莱山 Mount Horai-San - Mikawa .


. WKD : momisuri 籾摺 hulling rice, polishing rice .
kigo for late autumn


. Cultural Keywords used by Basho .

. - KIGO used by Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - .


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