Nagasaki Keynote address, August 2010

From the World Haiku Festival 2010 in Nagasaki

Susumu Takiguchi, Chairman of the World Haiku Club, delivering a welcome speech at the World Haiku Festival 2010 In Nagasaki and thanking for the celebration of the publication of his haiku anthology, Okkusufohdo no Zaregoto (Twaddle Of An Oxonian), which was part of the official project of the Festival. For details of the publication, see this issue's special feature on the Festival.

Special Commemorative Key-note Public Lecture

By

Susumu Takiguchi

Chairman, the World Haiku Club

Kyorai Mukai (1651－1704): PART ONE

Nagasaki no nagaki mo towan kumo-gasumi

wishing to know

how long the spring mist extends

over Nagasaki

This poem is said to be one which Kyorai wrote wistfully longing to return to his hometown, Nagasaki. This actually came true in Genroku 2 (1689).

When he was only 8 years old, his father, Gensho, took the whole family from Nagasaki to live in Kyoto. It was in Manji 1 (1658). This means that Kyorai was away from his birth place for 31 long years. He was already 38 years old.

He arrived there in summer which quickly turned autumn when he had to leave back for Kyoto already. He left behind a poem which since has become one of his most celebrated haiku:

kimi ga te mo majiru naru beshi hana-susuki

your waving hand

must be mingled among

the pampas grass

His family and friends did not want him to go and came as far as the hill called Himi, the boundary, to see him off, where there were pampas grass waving in the autumn wind as they said the final goodbye to the departing traveller. This haiku was published in the famous Sarumino(The Monkey’s Straw Raincoat) and the kotoba-gaki (a kind of note) says “Departing Ushichi at the Himi Hill when coming back from Chikushi (the Province of Nagasaki)”. Ushichi was a relative of his, said to be either his nephew or cousin or cousin-in-law, and was very close to Kyorai in that he discussed haikai with Kyorai a lot and had tutorial from him.

The Himi Hill is now part of the administrative district of the City of Nagasaki and calledSusuki-zuka-cho. There is a stone monument there which was erected in Tenmei 4 (1784), bearing this haiku. To reach there you follow the old Nagasaki Gaido and climb up to the Himi-toge which will lead to Yagami-mura and Susuki-zuka can be found there. It is very picturesque and it commands a fine view of the Mount Unzen. In the past one could not enter or come out Nagasaki except for passing this particular route. It is believed that this haiku was the only known poem Kyorai wrote in commemoration of his first return to his homeland.

Sarumino (The Monkey’s Straw Raincoat) is the famous anthology which established Shofu, or the Basho School Style. It was compiled by no other person than Kyorai and his fellow student of Basho, Boncho Nozawa and published on 3 July Genroku 4 (1691). Kikaku Enomoto wrote the foreward for it. Kikaku was another important disciple of Basho and will be discussed in detail later in this lecture. The anthology is called “the Kokin-waka-shu of haikai” in terms of its importance, influence and quality. Kokin-waka-shu is an ancient waka anthology compiled in early 10th century by a group of top waka poets such as Tsurayuki Ki-no and Tadamine Mibu-no. ‘The Bible of haikai’ would be the apt English expression. When Kyorai was staying in Nagasaki he was not idling time away drinking or playing but was hard at work disseminating and teaching Shofu among his relatives and friends who were engaged in haikai.

Are there any other stone monuments in Nagasaki with inscriptions of Kyorai’s poems? The answer is in the affirmative. At what is now Number 56-2 Honkawa-cho and along the old Nagasaki Gaido stands Watari-dori-zuka, or migrating birds monument, which was constructed in Bunka 10 (1813) by the haikai poets in Nagasaki of the Shomon School in order to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Basho’s death. On the front of the monument are inscribed two haikai poems. One is by Basho which reads:

me ni kakaru kumo ya shibasi no watari-dori

no sooner

clouds come into sight, than

migrating birds appear

And the other by Kyorai which goes:

furusato mo ima wa kari-ne ya watari-dori

my hometown…

now only a temporary abode;

a migrating bird

On the back of the same stone monument is an inscription which reads:

In the summer of Bunka 10 and during Mina-zuki, or the waterless month (June of the lunar calendar) we the disciples of Basho hereby sincerely erected this monument.

There is a stone monument called “Inazuma Kuhi” (the lightning haiku monument) at the site of the famous restaurant Kagetsu located in the gay quarter Maruyama, which reads:

inazuma ya dono keisei to kari-makura

lightning…

which prostitute am I sharing

temporary pillows

At Shuntoku-ji Temple there is a stone monument called Shigure-zuka, the winter rain monument which was erected in Horeki 14 (1764), on which the following poem by Basho is inscribed:

yado kashite na wo nanorasuru shigure kana

lodging given…

I had to give my name,

winter rain

At Suwa-jinja Shrine, there is this stone monument with the famous poem by Kyorai which goes:

furusato wo Kyo de kataru mo Suwa no tsuki

talking in Kyoto

about my hometown, about

the moon at Suwa

Tokuzo-ji Temple in Nagasaki’s Tagami area is the place where once stood Senzai-tei which was the detached residence of Tagami-no-ama, Kyorai’s aunt. Here is a stone monument bearing Kyorai’s poem which he composed while staying in this house in Genroku 11 (1698):

meigetsu ya tagami ni semaru tabi-gokoro

bright moon…

travelling sentiment

at Tagami

[to be continued]