|
- Kisagata
- In Basho's time Kisagata was considered one of the two famous bays in Japan.
In 1804, however, there was an earthquake which heaved up the sea bottom and
created the fields and pastures we have today. Hillocks in the fields mark
where islands once stood.
- weather
-
Basho plays on the contrast between fair and clear by saying something like,
"If the rain was this bewitching, then I could look forward to the clearing
after the rain. I bent my knees to get into a fisherman's hut to wait for
the rain to clear." When Basho speaks of "Ama no tamaya," this is a
fisherman's hut made of rushes or rush mats. This is an allusion to Noin's
poem found in Goshuishu #519:
Yo no naka wa/ kakute mo hekeri/ Kisagata
no/ ama no tomaya wo/ waga yado ni shite.
In contrasting Kisagata and
Matsushima we may be reminded of the contrast between the proud beauty of
Lady Rokujo and the pensive beauty of Lady Yugao. The text contrasts
smiling and weeping, but "uramu" means bitter, rancorous, and afflicted.
This is not just sadness, but anger. It is like a beautiful woman with a
troubled (angry) heart. This may be seen as a headnote to the poem that
follows.
- blossoms
- Saigyo's poem: Kisagata no/ sakura wa nami ni/ homorete/ hana no
yogoku/ ama no tsuribune.
- Empress Jingu
- Empress Jingu: it is said that on her return from the invasion of Korea
the Empress had her ship put in here at this island bringing with her the
legendary stones of Kanju and Manju. If you throw the Kanju stone into the
ocean, the tide goes out; if you throw the Manju stone, the tide flows in.
Kanmanjuji Temple combines the names of both these stones.
Sora's diary for the 17th says, "After breakfast we went to Kisamanji at
Jinguyama." The "kisa" he uses here is "kisagai," an ark shell which was
found in large numbers in the lagoon of "kata," hence the name Kisagata.
- water
- Note that Basho prefers to see the rippled reflectinof Mt. Chokai on the
water rather than look directly at the mountain.
- against it
- The name Shiogoshi indicates that the tide washes over this and the ocean
sweeps away to the north. Note also that Basho here looks in all four
directions and makes contrasts - a mountain to the south, an ocean to the
north, roads going east and west, one blocked, the other fading into the
distance.
- lament
- We have seen Lady Seishi before; this links back to something. The Chinese
poet compares Lady Seishi to the scenery of the West Lake. The Nemunohana
which blooms in the soaking rain of Kisagata calls to mind the elegant image
of Seishi, a beautiful woman with her eyes half closed with sorrow/grief.
"Nebu" is also a kakekotoba linked to the idea of Seishi sleeping.
"Nebunohana" is written with the characters Gokan no hana which means
'enjoying pleasures together.'
- sea
- This poem creates the image of cranes that have come down to the shallow
waters of Shiogoshi to search for food. As the waves lap continuously
against their legs, it gives the image of coolness. "Aogi" are legs,
"nure" is to soak.
- Sora
- Sora's poem deals with a festival they saw. In his diary he reports after
their visit to Kanmanji, "On the way back we encountered a festival.
Afterwards we went to the kumano Gongen shrine where we saw dancing and so
forth." The idea expresed in this poem is that in a remote place like this
the old ways are preserved and at a festival where they serve traditional
foods, Sora wonders what they will be.
- Teiji
- Teiji was a merchant from Gifu named Miyabe Yasaburo. Originally he had been
a poet belonging to another school. It is conjectured that Basho came to
know this man in the summer of 1688 when he went to Gifu to see the
cormorant fishing. According to Sora's diary it was through a letter of
introduction from this man that Basho got many nights' lodging at places
throughout the Hokuriku district.
|
