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- early chill
- On the basis of Sora's diary many commentators think that this poem
was written before Basho arrived in Kanazawa. If this is so, it raises
the question of why he would reposition it here. The poem says something
like: Red, red, the sun, relentless, the autumn wind. The term "tsurenaku"
meaing relentless seems to go both ways modifying both the sun and the
wind.
- pampas
- The image here is of a plain covered with hagi and suski rippling in
the breeze, and in the middle of it, a dwarf pine. The mood here is
quite the opposite of the stunted cherry he had seen earlier at Mt.
Gassan. That recalled the past winter, this looks forward to autumn.
Basho met with a group of poets here to compose a 44 stanza linked
verse and this poem was the opening verse.
- Sanemori's
- Saito Betto Sanemori was a warrior from Echizen. He had first been a
retainer of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, then he served Taira no Munemori and
Koremori. He fought against Minamoto no Yoshinaka in the Hokuriku campaign. Although in his seventies at the time, he dyed his hair black so the enemy would give him no consideration for his age. He was killed in battle at the age of 73.
- extraordinary one
- I read this as "he was no ordinary samurai" with the reference being
to Sanetomo, not the helmet.
- Higuchi no Jiro
- Higuchi was a retainer of Yoshinaka's, and it was
he who had cut off Sanemori's head after he had been killed by an arrow.
Higuchi and Sanemori had been friends since before the war.
- awe-struck
- Muzanya means piteous or sad, not awe-struck. In the No play "Sanemori"
= 307=Higuchi Jiro uses the phrase "muzanya" when he examined the head
of Sanemori and realized it was his friend.
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