New Poetry Blog No 188 Narrow Roads to Inner Lands Scene 11

  Basho statue at Hiraizumi

SCENE ELEVEN FROM NARROW ROADS TO INNER LANDS 

 

Takate

In this scene Bashō mentions a visit to a famous temple and later, speaking of a renowned warrior, once more reflects on the transitory nature of fame, leading him to write a well-known haiku.

On Zuiganji temple from Wikipedia- Seiryuzan Zuigan-ji is a Rinzai Zen Buddhist temple in located in the town of Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Belonging to the Myōshin-ji-branch of Rinzai Zen, it was founded in 828 during the Heian period by Jikaku Daishi.

Also from Wikipedia information on Lord Yoshitsune- Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159 – June 15, 1189) was a military commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles which toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-brother Yoritomo consolidate power. He is considered one of the greatest and the most popular warriors of his era, and one of the most famous samurai fighters in the history of Japan. Yoshitsune perished after being betrayed by the son of a trusted ally.

Zuiganji Temple

SCENE ELEVEN FROM NARROW ROADS TO INNER LANDS

Day. On the foothills of Hiraizumi, called Takadate. Enter Bashō and Sora.

BASHŌ

So many miles we've walked since we first left!

Across wide plains where long grass waves with wind,

By sides of sparkling streams and slow, brown rivers,

Through valleys, moorlands - up steep, stony mountains,

You've trod with me as firmest friend and now

Once more I'm leading you up rising ground

To clamber over scattered stones and boulders,

On narrow tracks, in Hiraizumi's foothills.

SORA

But in this region know as Takadate,

My legs are younger for such tasks; but truly

We've seen some weary walking on our ways,

And in these last few days more than our share.

(They sit upon some boulders.)

BASHŌ

Hard ground and twenty miles a day. Indeed,

Our path's been strange since we left Matsushima.

Do you recall right details of our journey?

I must make all our travel clear in thought

For wish to write about our wanderings,

And meld my many notes and all our verses,

Which are as stones picked, scattered, from our path,

To make a modest monument to life.

SORA

Let me recall- to Zuiganji temple

We went and saw its seven stately halls,

Embellished so with pure, gleam of gold.

BASHŌ

Quite true. I met the priest, the thirty-second,

Descended from the temple's first, great founder.

(Sora rises.)

SORA

We left for Hiraizumi on the twelfth,

And trailed a narrow, isolated way

Through mountain regions - paths trod only by

The single hunter or the lonely axeman.

BASHŌ

Not really knowing where we were, our way

Was lost and only by good luck at last

We finished up at port Ishinomaki.

Boats by the hundreds moored in harbour waters

And countless streaks of smoke continually

Arose from houses thronging by the shore.

So after lonely, winding tracks, I took

              Brief pleasure viewing such a busy place.

Yet none would offer hospitality.

So after asking all and everywhere,

We found a hovel and we passed the night

Uneasy in our souls.

SORA

And so, next morning,

We took the river road for two hard days.

We went by wide, grass moors and dismal marshes,

Stayed in a village overnight, and now

Have reached this place, quite famed in history.

BASHŌ

Yes, famed in history, yet half-forgotten.

For here that warrior, great-valiant

Lord Yoshitsune, was met by forced, self-death.

Three generations of the Fujiwara,

Famed family, passed by, drift of a dream.

The mountain stays the only thing unchanged.

The castle's vanished- only shrines are standing,

Their gilded pillars etched by frost and snow,

Their jewelled doors rent by the wind, because

Still-pious villagers have kept them here.

The great lives and the brave deeds of the dead

Slip swiftly into time's oblivion.

And only all-devouring grass still thrives.

(Bashō produces ink and writing slab. He writes.)

Summer grass: is this

What's left at last of deeds and

Dreams of warriors?

(Basho and Sora pause reflectively)

BASHŌ

Ah, hardest ways still wait for us: the passes

Across rough mountain range to Dewa province.

Yet if we cross and safely come back down,

With friends we'll know Obanazawa town.

(Bashō and Sora exit.)

 Yoshitsune

 Basho's Haiku