Kawai Chigetsu and Otokuni

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Kawai Chigetsu (1634-1718)

河合智月（かわいちげつ）. (川井 智月)
寛永10頃 （1633） - 享保3 （1718）
寛永十一年（1636）～宝永五年（1708）
The dates are unclear.

The Nun Chigetsu, Chigetsu-Ni 智月尼 / 知月

She was born in Yamashiro, Usa (near Kyoto) and maybe served at the court in Kyoto for a while. She became the wife of Kawai Saemon 川井佐左衛門, a ship agent for flat-bottoned barges in Otsu 大津膳所, but he died in 1686, so she became a nun.

To continue the family business, she adapted her younger brother Otokuni 乙州, who was a pupil of the Shomon group 蕉門 around Matsuo Basho. She came to know Basho and often invited him after 1689. She had a very friendly relationship with Basho, altough he was about 10 years younger than her, and she looked after him while he stayed on Otsu.
She was one of the contributors for the anthology Monkey's Raincoat", "Sarumino" 猿蓑.
Basho handed her a copy of his verse collection "The Record of the Unreal Hermitage" (幻住庵記 Genjuuanki), when he had to leave for Edo and she wanted a keepsake from him.
She also performed services at his grave.

Morikawa Kyoroku, another of the great pupils of Basho, praised her haiku as even better then the ones of her brother.

五色の内,ただ一色を染め出だせり




としよればこゑもかるるぞきりぎりす
source : basyo/monjin20



独り寝や夜わたる男蚊の声侘びし

sleeping alone -
the voice of a passing male mosquitoe
is just so sad



麦藁の家してやらん雨蛙　
In Sarumino 猿蓑


雪やけや夜毎に孫が手をふかせ


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


kogarashi ya iro ni mo miezu chiri mo sezu

a wintry gust
with no colour to show
with no leaves to rip

a bush warbler—
my hands in the kitchen sink
rest for a while

grandchildren come
and drag me out of bed —
the years end

under the harvest moon
awestruck crows
curb their voices

pointing their fingers
and standing on tiptoe
children admire the moon

each morning
a wren comes
bit by bit

Tr. Makoto Ueda
source : thegreenleaf.co.uk


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::




Ishibe, 石部
View of a tea-house on left, under a large tree, and travellers watching a man dancing; hills in background from graded colour-block, the lower part in mist.
This station was one of the most desolate stations on the highway. The road-side restaurant offered travellers rice wine, rice boiled with leafy vegetables, and baked bean-curd coated with bean paste.
source : www.jaodb.com



見やるさえ旅人さむし石部山 　
miyaru sae tabibito samushi Ishibe yama

just looking at it
makes the traveller feel cold -
mount Ishibeyama

from Sarumino


Ishibe-juku (石部宿, Ishibe-juku)
was the fifty-first of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō 東海道. It is located in the downtown area of the present-day city of Konan, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Because it only took approximately one day to travel from Kyoto to Ishibe-juku, there was a saying that went, "rise in Kyoto, stay in Ishibe."

Ishibe-juku was originally formed in 1571, when Oda Nobunaga formed the town of Ishibe (石部町 Ishibe-machi) by joining the five nearby villages. In 1597, Toyotomi Hideyoshi further developed the post station to be used for the shipment of goods by travelers on their way to Zenkō-ji in Shinano Province. When the Tōkaidō was established in 1601, Ishibe-juku became an official post station.

Inside the post station, there were two honjin and 32 other inns among the 458 structures that stretched approximately 1.6 km, as was recorded in 1863. In 1864, Tokugawa Iemochi, the fourteenth shogun of Japan, stayed at one of the two honjin, though his visit was preceded in 1863 by Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who would eventually become the fifteenth shogun of Japan. There is not much remaining of the original buildings today, but there is an archives museum dedicated to the former post town in Konan.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


. The 53 stations of the Tokaido Road .


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Matsuo Basho wrote this haiku to honor his host in Otsu
In the year Genroku 2 on the 12th lunar month:


少将の尼の話や志賀の雪
shooshoo no ama ho hanashi ya Shiga no yuki

these stories
about the nun general -
snow in Shiga


shooshoo .. is the nickname of the resolute daughter of poet and painter Fujiwara no Nobuzane 藤原信実 (?1175 - 1266) of the Kamakura period, Sooheki Monin no Shooshoo 藻壁門院少将 .
Generalmajor, Konteradmiral der Marine


MORE - hokku by Basho about
. Ama 尼　Buddhist Nun .

.................................................................................


More haiku by Chigetsu:




哥がるたにくき人かなほとゝぎす　（『あら野』）

from Sarumino

ひる迄はさのみいそがず時鳥　（『猿蓑』）

麥藁の家してやらん雨蛙　（『猿蓑』）

やまつゝじ海に見よとや夕日影　（『猿蓑』）

稲の花これを佛の土産哉　（『猿蓑』）

やまざくらちるや小川の水車　（『炭俵』）

崎風はすぐれて涼し五位の聲　（『炭俵』）

ひるがほや雨降たらぬ花の貌　（『炭俵』）

年よれば聲はかるゝぞきりぎりす　（『炭俵』）

御火焼の盆物とるな村がらす　（『炭俵』）

待春や氷にまじるちりあくた　（『炭俵』）

鶯に手もと休めむながしもと　（『續猿蓑』）

ふたつあらばいさかひやせむけふの月　（『續猿蓑』）

木がらしや色にも見えず散もせず　（『續猿蓑』）

有ると無きと二本さしけりけしの花　（『續猿蓑』）


source : yamanashi-ken.ac.jp


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


quote
Claudia Brefeld writes:

Von Chigetsus Kindheit und Jugendzeit ist nur wenig überliefert. Als Geburtsjahr wird in der Regel 1634 angegeben (seltener 1632 oder 1640). Relativ sicher scheint aber zu sein, dass sie in Usa, in der Nähe von Kyoto, geboren wurde und in jungen Jahren am kaiserlichen Hof arbeitete.
snip
Chigetsu heiratete später Kawai Saemon, ein Händler, der ein großes Fuhrgeschäft in Otsu in der Omi-Provinz betrieb. Diese Stadt (ca. 10 km von Kyoto) lag am südwestlichen Ufer des Biwa-Sees. Die Ehe blieb kinderlos. Und als ihr Ehemann um 1686 starb, adoptierte sie ihren jüngeren Bruder Otokuni (1657-1720), damit dieser als Erbe das Familienunternehmen leiten konnte.
snip
Unter dem Einfluss von Otokuni, der ein Schüler Bashos gewesen war, begann Chigetsu, sich ernsthaft mit dem Haiku schreiben zu beschäftigen und veröffentlichte ihre Werke unter dem Namen Otsu. Zwischen Chigetsu und Otokuni bestand eine herzlich enge Verbindung. So dachte Otokuni, der sich einmal auf einer Reise befand, liebevoll an sein Zuhause und überlegte, was seine ältere Schwester vielleicht wohl gerade in der Küche machte und verfasste dem entsprechend ein Haiku.

Beide luden oft den großen Poeten Basho in ihr Haus ein und komponierten so Haiku und renku miteinander.

Basho, mehr als 10 Jahre jünger als Chigetsu, konnte mit ihr, wie mit kaum einer anderen Frau, scherzen und entspannen, denn sie waren nicht nur Lehrer und Schülerin im Sinne des haikai, sondern auch sehr eng außerhalb dieser Verbindung befreundet. Und es waren Chigetsu und Otokunis Frau, die ein Gewand für Basho anfertigten, um es auf der Reise jenseits dieser Welt zu tragen.

Chigetsu schien eine unternehmungslustige, relativ sorglose und aufgeschlossene Person gewesen zu sein. Auch, nachdem sie sich nach dem Tod ihres Ehemannes ihren Kopf rasiert hatte, ging sie nicht in ein Kloster, sondern blieb zu Hause, genoss ihr Leben und starb als zufriedene Großmutter im Jahre 1718 (einige Quellen verweisen auch auf 1705, 1706, 1708, 1736).

magodomo ni hiki okosarete toshi no kure

die Enkel kommen
und ziehen mich aus dem Bett -
Jahresende
(Übersetzung in Zusammenarbeit mit Gabi Greve)


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Reference : 川井智月


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Kawai Otokuni 川井乙州/ 河井乙州 / 河合乙州

（～享保5年（1720）1月3日、享年64歳）
(1675 - 1720)
He was 64 when he died on the third of the first lunar month in 1720.

Otokuni was one of the few who understood Basho's notion of karumi, lightness in haikai.


Basho wrote this famous haiku, when seeing off Otokuni to a trip to Edo on some business errands.



梅若菜丸子の宿のとろろ汁
ume wakana Mariko no yado no tororo jiru

plum blossoms and fresh leaves -
the yam soup at the lodging
at Mariko station

(Mariko was one of the stations on the Tokaido road to Edo and was famous for its yam porridge, grated yam soup. See link below for a woodblock print.)


After the death of Basho, Otokuni brought the ramains to his home, his sister made is death robe and they held a burial service for the master.


.................................................................................


Otokuni visited Basho at temple Gichu-Ji and they shared some
chrysanthemum sake

. kusa no to ya higurete kureshi kiku no sake .

this grass door -
dusk arrives with a present
of chrysanthemum ricewine


.................................................................................



Otokuni remembered his sister on a trip to Edo.


春のよの餅や智月の焦がすらん
haru no yo no mochi ya Chigetsu no kogasuran

these rice cakes
in a spring night - Chigetsu
might burn them black


.................................................................................


Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉wrote this for Otokuni in December of 1690:

人に家を買はせて我は年忘れ
. hito ni ie o kawasete ware wa toshi wasure .

I make him buy a house
for me - now I can
forget the old year

.................................................................................


More haiku by Otokuni:


有明に三度飛脚の行くやらん（『嵯峨日記』）

亀の甲烹らゝ時は鳴もせず（『ひさご』）

馬かりて竹田の里や行しぐれ（『猿蓑』）

鉢たゝき憐は顔に似ぬものか（『猿蓑』）

すゞ風や我より先に百合の花（『猿蓑』）

日燒田や時々つらく鳴く蛙（『猿蓑』）

ばせを葉や打かへし行月の影（『猿蓑』）

寝ぐるしき窓の細目や闇の梅（『猿蓑』）

其春の石ともならず木曽の馬（『猿蓑』）

螢飛疊の上もこけの露（『猿蓑』）

見る所おもふところやはつ櫻（『続猿蓑』）

曉のめをさまさせよはすの花（『炭俵』）

海山の鳥啼立る雪吹かな（『炭俵』）

取葺の内のあつさや棒つかひ（『續猿蓑』）

森の蝉凉しき聲やあつき聲（『續猿蓑』）

朝風や薫姫の團もち（『續猿蓑』）

行秋を鼓弓の糸の恨かな（『續猿蓑』）

けし畑や散しづまりて仏在世（『續猿蓑』）

source : www.weblio.jp



*****************************
Related words


. WASHOKU
Tororojiru とろろ汁 and Hanga 　


. Otsu Paintings (大津絵 Ootsu-E) 　



***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　



[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::