On the Eighth, we made the ascent of Gassan. Donning paper garlands, and with our heads wrapped in white turbans, we toiled upward for eight leagues, led by a porter guide through misty mountains with ice and snow underfoot. We could almost have believed ourselves to be entering the cloud barrier beyond which the sun and the moon traverse the heavens. The sun was setting and the moon had risen when we finally reached the summit, gasping for breath and numb with cold. We stretched out on beds of bamboo grass until dawn, and descended toward Yudono after the rising sun had dispersed the clouds.

Near the valley, we saw a swordsmith's cottage. The Dewa smiths, attracted by the miraculous waters, had purified themselves there before forging their famous blades, which they identified by the carved signature, "Gassan." I was reminded of the weapons tempered at Dragon Spring. It also seemed to me that I could understand the dedication with which those men had striven to master their art, inspired by the ancient example of Gan Jiang and Moye.

While seated on a rock for a brief rest, I noticed some half-opened buds on a cherry tree about three feet high. How admirable that those late blooms had remembered spring, despite the snowdrifts under which they had lain buried! They were like "plum blossoms in summer heat" perfuming the air. The memory of Archbishop Gyoson's touching poem added to the little tree's charm.

It is a rule among ascetics not to give outsiders details about Mount Yudono, so I shall lay aside my brush and write no more.

When we returned to our lodgings, Egaku asked us to inscribe poem cards with verses suggested by our pilgrimage to the Three Mountains:

suzushisaya           Ah, what coolness!
hono mikazuki no           Under a crescent moon,
hagurosan           Mount Haguro glimpsed.

kumo no mine           Mountain of the Moon:
ikutsu kuzurete           after how many cloud peaks
tsuki no yama           had formed and crumbled?

katararenu           My sleeve was drenched
yudono ni nurasu           at Yudono, the mountain
tamoto ka na           of which none may speak.

yudonoyama           Yudonoyama
zeni fumu michi no            tears fall as I walk the path
namida ka na            where feet tread on coins.
--Sora            --Sora