Kyorai Mukai part 13, end

WHR June 2015

SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE KEY-NOTE PUBLIC LECTURE

AT WORLD HAIKU FESTIVAL 2010 IN NAGASAKI

BY

SUSUMU TAKIGUCHI

CHAIRMAN, THE WORLD HAIKU CLUB

Kyorai Mukai (1651－1704):

PART THIRTEEN

When Kyorai set out on his journey from Kyoto to his native town, Nagasaki, for the second time he wrote a haiku at Fushimi which more than reveals his personality, especially his tender heart. It has a maegaki (foreword) which says, “When I began my trip to Chikushi I looked back in my boat passing Fushimi towards where my dear children stayed behind: “

夕立の雲もかゝらず留守の空 去来 （『金毘羅會）

yudachi no kumo mo kakarazu rusu no sora

not even the clouds/of evening shower hang over/the sky above my absent home

It is believed that Kyorai never had a seisai (legal wife) but that he kept a naisai (common law wife). Her name was Kana. According to some study she was originally a yujo (courtesan) of Gojozaka, Kyoto. Now as Kyorai’s mistress she bore him two girls. The first daughter was born in Genroku 8 (1695) when Kyorai was 45. At the time when he set off on his scond journey to Nagasaki she was 4. The second daughter was born two years later, Genroku 10 (1697) and 2 years old at that time. The evening shower haiku depicts Kyorai as a father who was turning 50 soon and who was missing his young children left behind at home. Kanan was also a haijin of the Shomon (Basho school) and her name began to appear in haikai anthologies in Genroku 5 (1692). After Kyorai died she became a nun, calling herself Teiju (some say Teisho), and came under the protection of Genkei who was an adopted son of Gentan. Kana’s poems are to be found in Tagami-no-Aki, a commemorative anthology for the death of Kyorai, which was published in Hoei 2 (1705), and in other anthologies of the Shomon.

There is much more I want to say about Kyorai but as the time does not permit me to do so I know I should conclude my talk today. There are so many things which we know about him but at the same time there are almost too many things which we still do not know and which brings out our intellectual frustration. Why, for instance, did he really give up his ambition to become a samurai when young after having made that resolve and endeavoured hard to train in martial arts? Why did he not choose one occupation to specialize in after mastering so many different things? How did he become so well to do as to be able to afford a second home, Rakushisha? What made him take up haikai so suddenly when he was well-established as a waka poet? Why in his middle age did he not get married formally but chose to have a mistress with whom he had two children? Why was he criticized not having talent for haikai and therefore producing poems of little merit when he was so excellent in his achievements in haikai theory? For us residents of Nagasaki-prefecture what is most curious for us why did he not decide to move from Kyoto to his hometown Nagasaki permanently? If he pondered upon this what were the main factors which tipped the balance for him to decide to stay in Kyoto for the rest of his life? Such questions as these come to mind one after another.

However, from what is known about Kyorai we can see for certain that he had excellent talents, that he was a man of respectable character, that he was extremely diligent in studying Basho’s teachings and understanding them well and that after the Master’s death he made an utmost effort to establish and disseminate Shofu. As a result he came to be admired as one of the Shomon-no-Jittetsu (Ten Most Prominent Disciples of Basho) of which he ranked one of the highest. Notwithstanding this serious side of Kyorai, he also had a different aspect which was more gentle and human. And, that is that he was also someone who had a penchance for things romantic and erotic, enjoying visits to gayquarters. Nagasaki was famous for Maruyama gayquarters, which was as prosperous as Yoshiwara in Edo and Shimabara in Kyoto. Kyorai wrote a haiku which was a giveaway of his visit to Maruyama:

いなづまやどの傾城（けいせい）とかりまくら

inazuma ya dono keisei to kari-makura

lightning…

with which courtesan

shall I sleep tonight?

There stands a stone monument with this haiku engraved at a corner of a small lane leading to the ryotei (high-end Japanese restaurant) Kagetsu. Kagetsu was the largest geisha house founded in Kanei 19 (1642) in the old Maruyama gayquarters, which now has become one of the most famous restaurants in Japan. This lane was there in the Edo Period and has not been altered since. The only difference today is its surroundings: tall buildings, telegraph poles, hoardings, and, at night, neon signs. If you ignore all these modern eyesores and imaging all those years ago then you may see Kyorai walking in front of you towards the geisha house. (End)