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- Shirakawa
- Shirakawa is a pillow word and many poems have been written at this location.
We know from Sora's diary that Basho passed through the new
barrier gate although he also made a slight detour in order to visit the
ruins of the old gate which had been established some 500 years earlier.
- Traveller
- This is a reference to Taira no Kanemori who visited here and wrote the
following poem which is found in the Shuishu:
‚½‚æ‚è‚ ‚ç‚΂¢‚©‚Å“s‚Ö��‚°‚â‚ç‚ñ�¡“ú”’‰Í‚̊ւ͉z‚¦‚Ê‚Æ�B
- Stations
- The three major gates of the northern interior were 1) Shirakawa of Iwaki,
2) Nakoso of Hitachi, and 3) Nezu of Dewa. Later, Basho will briefly
mention crossing the barrier at Nezu.
- Poets
- For poets here Basho uses the term Fuso (•—‘›�jmeaning 'a
noisy wind' or a 'boisterous wind.' Why does he use this term to
designate a literary man?
- Autumn wind
- This means he can hear the autumn wind in his ears although it is now only
early summer. This is a reference to a poem by Noin =306=
Noin (988-?) His real name was Tachibana no Nagayasu. He studied
poetry under the supervision of Fujiwara no Nagato and established the
precedent of the master-disciple relationship. He took holy orders around
the year 1013 and from that time onward led an itinerant life. He was later
epitomized by Saigyo (1118-90). His legendary dedication to poetry gave
rise to many famous anecdotes preserved in the medieval tale collections.
From his travels he produced Noin Utamakura, a work esteemed by
later classical poets for its treatment of various scenic places. His
personal anthology, Noin Hoshi Shu was compiled between 1044-49 and contains
257 poems. His verse is noted for its descriptive qualities, a new departure
in an age characterized by wit and intellectualizing.
Basho's interest in Noin is evident from the fact that he was a
traveller who used poetry to write about scenic places he had visited and
from the fact that he chose to focus ont he descriptive qualities in an age
of wit an intellectualizing which is the same departure Basho made from the
Danrin school of poetry. =306=
which goes:
“s‚ð‚Ήà‚Æ‚Æ‚à‚É—§‚¿‚µ‚©‚Ç�H•—‚¼��‚”’‰Í‚ÌŠÖ�B
- Autumn tints
- Here Basho is thinking thoughts of autumn leaves and makes reference to a poem
by Minamoto Yorimasa from the Senzaishu:
�@�@�ç�Í�W�@�@�”‚R‚U‚S�F
“s‚É‚Í‚Ü‚¾�—t‚É‚ÄŒ©‚µ‚©‚Ç‚à‚à‚Ý‚¿‚¿‚肵‚”’�ì‚ÌŠÖ�@�[�@�]ŽOˆÊ—Š�
Notice how Basho is moving through time, not only in his allusions to these
earlier poets, but also in the seasons. It is early summer, but his mind is
in autumn and winter. He not only moves back over the years, but also
around through the seasons.
- Snow
- The allusion here is to a paoem by Oe Sadashige from the Zoku Goshuishu:
‘±Œã�Eˆâ�W�@�@�”‚S‚X‚Q�F�@ŠÖ�á‚ð
•Ê‚ê‚É‚µ‚݂₱‚Ì�H‚Ì“ú�”‚³‚ւ‚à‚ê‚Î�á‚Ì‚µ‚ç�ì‚ÌŠÖ�@�[�@‘å�]’å�d
- Clothes
- This is a reference to an episode recounted by Fujiwara Kiyosuke in
Fukurozoshi. According to this story Takeda Daifu Kokugyo rearranged his
clothes and wore his best hat when he passed through the barrier at Shirakawa.
Asked why he went to such pains, he replied that since the ancient priest Noin
=306= had composed such a distinguished poem
“s‚ð‚Ήà‚Æ‚Æ‚à‚É—§‚¿‚µ‚©‚Ç�H•—‚¼��‚”’‰Í‚ÌŠÖ�@
here,
it would not be right to pass through in ordinary clothing
- Dress
- Sora affects to be a beggar with no good clothes or hat to change or
straighten. All he has are flowers to decorate his hat. He prefers to
show off his poetic sensibility rather than his clothes.
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