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- Thirtieth
- Since there were only 29 days in this month we know that this episode was either made up or misplaced. SoraÕs diary says that on the first day of the Fourth Month they visited the shrines at Nikko and then put up at Gozaemon's place. Donald Keene suggests that Basho chose to rearrange the sequence of events and add an extra day to the calendar because he wanted to create some space between his visits to two holy sites, Muro no Yashima and Nikko.
- Name
- Most editions of the text put this passage in quotations, Gozaemon is saying this about himself. He refers to himself as Hotoke Gozaemon, that is, Gozaemon the Buddha.
- April 13
- This corresponds to May 19 in the Western calendar.
- Nikko
- The original name Niko means "twice turbulent" mountain. There was an opening in the rocks on the northeast side of this mountain which erupted twice a year. When the venerable priest Kukai climbed the mountain, he changed the name to Nikko in order to pacify the eruptions. Another legend
says that Katsudo Shonin asked Kukai to give this name to this sacred site in honor of the Kannon. This mountain was actually made a sacred site by Katsudo Shonin in the Engaku era in the late 8th century.
- Black hair
- All Basho says here is: Mount Kurokami was shrouded in mist and still white with snow.
- Clothes
- Sora's poems says: "Cut my hair and cast it away, Mount Kuroyama, A change of clothes". He works a contrast and a comparison. He cut his own hair, but the mountain has black hair. He has changed his robes for those of a priest and the mountain has changed to its spring colors as of the 15th of the Fourth Month.
- Pen name
- Sora's original name was Iwanami Shozaemon Masataka and he later changed it to Kawai Sogoro. He was a native of Kami Suwa in Shinshu. He died in 1710 at the age of 62. During his lifetime he edited several volumes of poetry.
- Purpose
- Basho says: That's why he wrote a verse about Kurokamiyama. Therefore the words 'koromogae' have great power.' Sora has changed his appearance recently and feels a kinship with the mountain which has done the same.
- See-from-behind
- Basho calls the waterfall "Urami no taki," the waterfall of resentment or the waterfall seen from behind. Why doesn't he follow up on the potential double entendre?
- Observances
- Summer traditionally began on the 16th day of the Fourth Month and lasted for 90 days. It was customary for priests to go into seclusion in a room and dedicate themselves to reading and copying the sutras. These were the summer observances. Secluding himself in the cavern behind the waterfall reminds Basho of this practice. Another aspect of this is that seeing the falls from behind represents a new perspective on the world rather than the conventional one. What are we to make of the word "urami" which means both 'to see from behind' and 'a grudge.'
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