Oku no Hosomichi

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Oku no Hosomichi ( Japanese 奥 の 細 道 , dt. "On narrow paths into the hinterland") is a travel diary and one of the most famous works by the Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō . Oku here means both hinterland / periphery / far removed from the capital - in the form of what was then the northernmost and most remote province of Mutsu (also Michinoku) - as well as its own interior . The work was created in a rough version in 1689, the first printing took place in 1702 (Kyôto).

Diary of a trip

Oku no Hosomichi owes its existence to a trip Basho in late spring 1689. He and his companion Kawai Sora (1649-1710) closed on 27 March 1689 (Genroku 2 Japanese era ) of Edo (now Tokyo ) made in the northern hinterland, Oku . The trip took a total of 156 days. Basho traveled on foot.

Basho and Sora first migrated northwards along the Pacific coast, via Nikkō , Sendai , Matsushima and Hiraizumi , then over the central mountains to the shores of the Japanese Sea to Sakata . From Sakata, the travel companions made a detour to the now defunct Bay of Kisagata, the northernmost point of the trip. Then Basho and Sora followed the shores of the Sea of ​​Japan southwards, first back to Sagata, and on via Niigata , Kanazawa and Fukui to Tsuruga Bay and from there back inland via Ōkagi, where he met some of his students, to Yamanaka. Basho covered the last part of the journey across Honshu back to Edo by himself. The length of the route was about 2,400 km.

With his journey, Basho entered the tradition of wandering poet-priests like Saigyō . Like his predecessors, Basho also wants to visit places that have long been the subject of poetic admiration. The Japanese language knows the expression uta makura "poem pillow" for this. The diary as a whole follows the literary form of Renga , it scatters scenes with highly emotional content between more factual and informative parts. The text is a mixture of prose and poetry and contains numerous allusions to Confucius , Saigyō and ancient Chinese poets such as Li Po . It is committed to the Sabi aesthetic concept . First and foremost, the book is a travelogue in which Basho also vividly elaborates the poetic content of his travel stops. Basho visited the Tokugawa Shrine in Nikkō, the Shirakawa Barrier, the islands of Matsushima , Sakata , Kisakata and the province of Etchū .

After his journey ended, Basho spent five years revising the poems (notably haiku ) and the text of the Oku no Hosomichi before finally publishing it.

"Uta makura" in Oku no Hosomichi

Uta makura or "poem pillows" are places or sights that are traditionally the subject of admiring poems, so they are particularly suitable as the subject of a poem.

The best known poems of basho on "uta makura" from the Oku no Hosomichi are:

  • Edo :
    Kusa no to mo sumi-kawaru yo zo hina no ie.
    “I'm going to leave the house where I've lived lonely up to now. Perhaps a large, happy family will live here one day. "
  • Nikko
    Aratou to aoba wakaba no hi no hikari.
    “How solemn it is when the Tōshō-gū reflects the rays of the sun that play on the fresh green leaves.” (Nikko is a famous sight. There is a large Shintō shrine in which Ieyasu Tokugawa , who was the Shogunate, is buried founded by Edo.)
  • Ogaki
    Hamaguri no futami ni wakare yuku aki zo.
    "I part from these people close to me like a shell that opens, in this sad autumn." (Ogaki meant the end of the journey. Basho separated from some people close to him. He made a poem out of his grief in which he said Compare grief to the clam dividing.)
  • Mogami river
    Samidare wo atsumete hayashi Mogamigawa.
    “The torrent of the Mogami River has collected abundant water from the early summer rains.” (Japanese rivers are considered to flow faster than European and American rivers. The Mogami is literally raging.)
  • Gassan
    Kumo no mine ikutsu kuzurete Tsuki no yama.
    “The cloud covering the summit of Gassan has blown away. The moon shines beautifully on Gassan. ”(“ Gassan ”means moon mountain.)
  • Sado Island
    Araumi ya Sado ni yokotou Amanogawa.
    “The sea is rough! And the great Milky Way is spraying on the island of Sado. ”(From the island of Sado, Basho had a beautiful view of the Sea of ​​Japan.)

Matsushima

Matsushima ( Pine Islands ) is one of the traditional three most beautiful landscapes in Japan . In Matsushima Bay there are several hundred small islands lined with pine trees - it is a uta makura par excellence. Basho himself does not dedicate a haiku to this travel destination, but only a prose section, but in Oku no Hosomichi there is a haiku by Sora that is about Matsushima:

Matsushima ya tsuru ni mi wo kare hototogisu
"Bay of the Pine Islands, borrow the shape of the crane, you mountain cuckoo!"

Hiraizumi: Memories of Yoshitsune

The most famous haiku from Oku no Hosomichi, and at the same time one of the most famous haiku of all, originated in Hiraizumi, where one of the greatest tragic heroes of Japan, Minamoto no Yoshitsune , was killed in a legendary battle. Basho introduces the haiku with the following words:

“There were also the remains of the residence of Yasuhira and his followers… The loyal vassals [Yoshitsunes] had holed up there - alas, the reputation of their deeds of fame was short-lived. All traces are overgrown by thick brush. 'The land is devastated - mountains and rivers are intact - the castle ruins are green when the spring comes, only grass!' - these poetry words went through my head. With my bamboo hat spread out under me, I sat there, shed tears - and forgot the time. "

Looking at the grassy landscape where, according to tradition, the battle took place, Basho composed the following haiku:

Japanese transcription literal translation Translation of GSDombrady

夏 草 や
兵 ど も が
夢 の 跡

natsugusa ya
tsuwamonodomo ga
yume no ato

Summer grass
is the last trace
of the warriors' dreams

Summer grass ...! the last trace
of all the dreams of glory

The term summer grass is used in Haiku to refer to the current season (season word - Kigo ). The middle part of the haiku is dominated by the six-syllable archaic word tsuwamonodomo (warrior), which gives the poem a special gravitas. Basho leaves open what the warriors who lost their lives on this battlefield may have dreamed of (of victory? Of fame - as Dombrady assumes in his translation? Of safe homecoming?). According to Dombrady, the poem primarily expresses the "illusionistic dream existence of man in this world".

literature

  • M. Basho: On narrow paths through the hinterland . Translated from Japanese, with introductions and annotations by GS Dombrady. 4th, improved edition. Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Mainz 2011, ISBN 978-3-87162-075-1 .
  • Robert F. Wittkamp: Landscape and Memory - to Bashōs Oku no Hosomichi. (= German East Asian Studies. Volume 11). With woodcuts from the Bashō-ō Ekotoba-den. Ostasienverlag, Gossenberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-940527-48-6 .
  • Robert F. Wittkamp: Bashō's ˋPfade durch das Hinterlandˋ and the haibun literature - with narrative text analyzes on the Oku no Hosomichi. (= German East Asian Studies. Volume 20). Ostasienverlag, Gossenberg 2015, ISBN 978-3-940527-86-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Haruo Shirane (Ed.): Early Modern Japanese Literature. An Anthology 1600-1900 . Columbia University Press, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-231-14415-5 , pp. 100 .
  2. ↑ M. Basho: On narrow paths through the hinterland. 4th, verb. Edition. Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Mainz 2011, pp. 165, 167.
  3. ↑ M. Basho: On narrow paths through the hinterland. 4th, verb. Edition. Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Mainz 2011, p. 167.
  4. ↑ M. Basho: On narrow paths through the hinterland. 4th, verb. Edition. Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Mainz 2011, p. 294.