Mhysteria, emotion, beauty. The poetic form ofhaiku encloses them in a few syllables of illuminating depth. The most universally known poem by Basho (“At the old pond/a frog dives/noise of water”), but perhaps it is also worth focusing on oneanthology of female voices of the last hundred years (Haiku for womenEinaudi). Better yet, retrace its history in its country of origin.
Because you can fantastically travel to Italy with Goethe, to Argentina with Chatwin, and in the same way get inspired by Basho, Issa and Shiki, the immortal podium ofhaiku (to make a long story short, the flash poetic composition of 7-5-7 syllables, with precise references to season and circumstance), in the discovery of an unprecedented Japanoutside the most codified tourism routes.
Japan: traveling poetry
Those who fly to Tokyo will already know that the noble master Basho (means “banana tree”), a bit samurai, a bit Zen monk, he innovated the poetry of the seventeenth century to deliver it to our modern sensibility, but perhaps he doesn’t know about theMatsuo Basho’s tireless wanderings around the Archipelago in search of the Beauty and essential simplicity of Nature, in the footsteps of other great men of letters.
The his life itinerary he left from the vicinity of Kyoto in 1644 to make a long, glorious stop in Edo (Tokyo), interspersed with grand spiritual-cultural tours in the north east of Honshu island.
The Yamadera temple complex, in the mountains near Yamagata, in the Tohoku region.
Japan: Basho’s road
Retracing it today, also as a journey of self-discovery, is made easier by the suggestions in the diary between prose and poetry “Oku no hosomichi” (“The Narrow Path of the Deep North”), in which Basho notes his encounters with changing landscapes, trees and flowers, animals, clear, starry skies… Every enchanting place.
A highlight in the Tohoku region is the Matsushima Bay with the 200 pine-covered islandsof an intense and dark green”, to which “i sea winds have sculpted the branches into shapes of incomparable elegance”. A wonder that is now more accessible than it once was, given that at least three islets are connected by bridges to the mainland, which comes alive all year round: festivals, traditional dance and music shows and cherry tree shows in spring. And Towada, an immense volcanic lake of brilliant blue.
Japan: temples and cedar forests
Another place of wonders is the Risshaku-ji temple, or Yamadera, temple complex nestled in an enchanting cedar forest. It must be said: the peak with a view of the valley is not for everyone, but only for the daredevils ready to climb a thousand stone steps. But you can console yourself at the foot of the mountain in the glow of the “Eternal Light of Buddhism”, a flame that has burned for over a thousand years, kept in the Konponchu-do Hall.
The statues of Basho and Sora in the garden of Yamadera Temple.
Third destination of great beauty, even spiritual, is the sanctuary Shiogama Jinja (where there are “only” 200 stone steps), also on a not exactly gentle hill overlooking Matsushima Bay. Effort, in all cases, is rewarded by the gods. And on the other hand, trying your hand at the art of haiku also requires concentration, time and energy. At his death (late seventeenth century) Basho leaves two thousand disciples, but it is in the second half of the eighteenth century that he arrives the most talented of all, Kobayashi Issa.
Japan: in the green with Issa’s poetry
Born in a village in the current province of Nagano, orphaned at three years old and raised by his grandmother until he landed in Edo (Tokyo) to earn a living. As? Certainly also by writing poems: there are more than 20 thousand of them. And then you can reach it Nagano Prefecture and visit, in the greenery of Shinanomachithe Issa Memorial Hall. Passion for poetry aside, this is the earthly paradise where it was invented forest therapy the first city in Japan to have conducted medical studies on the positive effects of forests on body and mind.
Matsuyama Castle.
Change of island, not of pace. Again one hundred years later, in Matsuyama, in Ehime prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, Masaoka Shiki is born. Today we visit his there Shiki Museum and the beautiful Castleone of the few in Japan to have maintained the original building, on the top of Mount Katsuyama. In an extreme act of good will, you can reach it on foot, however there is a cable car. And from there the view of the Seto Inland Sea is unmissable, like the taimeshia local dish based on rice and fish.
But most of all, it is a must visit the iconic Dogo Onsen, one of the oldest hot springs in Japan, so legendary that it appeared in Hayao Miyazaki’s supreme anime The enchanted city.
The historic Dogo Onsen, which has become a place from a novel, is also the protagonist of a very famous anime, Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”.
In front of the dedicated station (Dōgo Onsen) there is the mechanical clock Botchan Karakuriinspired by the novel Botchan (“The young gentleman”) by Natsume Soseki. Every hour it comes alive and reveals the characters of the novel, with a musical background. If this isn’t poetry…
