Trees In the Town

Virtual Nada 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Jigen-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Sen'en-ji Temple was founded in the north of Koya-ike Pond.  It belonged to Shingon School.  As it has the wooden sitting Sakyamuni statue which was made in 1195, during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333), the temple might be as old as the statue or a little bit younger.  In the Southern and Northern Courts Period (1336-1392), Akamatsu Norimura (1277-1350) asked the temple to pray for him.  As he was based in Harima Province, he might have found some advantage in having connections with a Buddhist temple in Settsu Province, which lay between Harima Province and Kyoto, the then capital of Japan.

     Priest Keisho came from Taiko-ji Temple, transferred Sen'en-ji Temple into Caodong Chan Buddhism, and renamed it Sen'en-san Jigen-ji. 

     In those days, the Itami Family ruled the surrounding area, based in Arioka Castle.  The family was first documented in 1309, during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333).  In the year, Itami Chikamori worked for the Deputy Guardian Samurai of Settsu Province.  In 1363, during the Southern and Northern Courts Period (1336-1392), Itami Saemonnojo was documented.  On June 4th, 1531, Itami Kunisuke was killed in battle, when Hosokawa Takakuni  (1484-1531), the 31st Deputy of Muromachi Shogunate and the 15th head of Kyocho-Hosokawa Family, was destroyed by Hosokawa Harumoto (1514-1563) and Miyoshi Motonaga(1501-1532).  

     Takakuni replaced Ashikaga Yoshitane (1466-1523), the 10th Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, with the son of Ashikaga Yoshizumi (1480-1511), the 8th Shogun, Yoshiharu (1511-1550), the 11th Shogun, in 1521.  Takakuni was in his heyday.  Lights, however, are usually followed by shadows.  In July, 1526, Hosokawa Tadakata (?-1531), Takakuni’s cousin, fabricated the secret communication between Takakuni’s vassal, Kozai Motomori (?-1526), and Hosokawa Harumoto (1514-1563).  It wasn’t recorded what intention Tadakata had.  Motomori was said to be uncultured and uneducated.  Anyway, Takakuni just flew into a fury and had Motomori assassinated.  Motomori’s brothers, Hatano Motokiyo (?-1530) and Yanagimoto Kataharu (?-1530), got furious in turn.  They rebelled against Takakuni in their homeland, Tamba Province.  Motokiyo shut himself up in Yakami Castle and Kataharu in Kannosan Castle.  Takakuni was astonished and ordered Tadakata to siege Kannosan Castle.  He also dispatched Kawarabayashi Shurinosuke and Ikeda Danjo to Yakami Castle on October 23rd.  There were some skirmishes for several days.  On November 5th, Naito Kunisada (?-1553), the lord of Yagi Castle,who was sympathetic toward the brothers, withdrew from the encirclement of Kannosan Castle.  On November 30th, Akai Goro, the lord of Kuroi Castle, attacked the besiegement of Kannosan Castle and broke it.  Takakuni’s army raised the siege of the castles.  On their way back, Shurinosuke and Danjo had infighting.  Tadataka just ran away.  Takakuni’s rule exposed its vulnerability in half a year.

     The Miyoshi Family didn’t miss the good opportunity.  Miyoshi Masanaga (1508-1549) landed at Sakai and occupied Hori Fortress, which is supposed to have been located where Juso Park is, on an island in the Yodo River as early as on December 13th, as if they had had a secret communication with Motokiyo and Kataharu.

     After all the ups downs of himself and the decline of the Muromachi Shogunate, Takakuni went into exile in Iga, Ise, Echizen, Izumo, and Bizen Provinces.  Takakuni was supported by Uragami Muramune (1498-1531), who was based in Mitsuishi Castle in Bizen Province.  Takakuni and Muramune occupied Harima Province on July 27th, 1530, and seized Arioka Castle by the end of February, 1531.  They occupied Kyoto on March 7th.  They advanced toward Sakai, Izumi Province, where Ashikaga Yoshitsuna (1511-1573), who was called a Sakai Shogun, lived and practiced a little bit of shogunate power.  A seesaw battle went on.  Akamatsu Harumasa (1495-1565), who was based in Okishio Castle, arrived at Kanno-ji Temple on June 2nd.  Harumasa was greeted by Takakuni and Muramune on the night.  On the 4th, Harumasa went over to the Sakai Shogunate side.  Takakuni and Muramune were attaacked by Harumasa from north and by the Sakai Shogunate army from south.

     Itami Kunisuke was killed in the battle.  Did he show loyalty to Takakuni?  I don't think so.  He was caught up in so-called dogfights.  Hosokawa Ryoke Ki, the Records of Two Hosokawa Families, which was written by Ikushima Sochiku, and which covers history from 1504 to 1570, "The river is so full of dead people that it looks like a mound.  People say that something like this never happens; not in the past, not now, and not in the future."  Kunisuke didn't want to miss a chance, became subject to Takakuni, was given Kuni, Takakuni's last half, to the first half of his name, and just thought he jumped on the bandwagon till his last moment.

     With his main vassals killed, Takakuni left the battlefield ln the confusion of the defeat.  He fled to Amagasaki.

     He tried to retreat to Daimotsu Castle, but the Akamatsu forces had already taken hold of it.  He fled to an indigo dyeing shop called Kyoya in Amagasaki and hid inside an indigo pot, laying the earthenware pot upside down.  He was captured by Miyoshi Kazuhide (?-1532) on June 5th.

     Searching for Takakuni in Amagasaki, Kazuhide prepared a lot of melons and told children playing nearby, "If you tell me where Takakuni is hiding, I'll give you all of these melons."  The children, eager to get the melons, found Takakuni's hiding place.

     At around 4 a.m. on the 8th of the same month, Takakuni committed suicide at Kotoku-ji Temple in Amagasaki at the age of 48.  His death tanka poem, which he sent to Kitabatake Harutomo (1503-1563), reads:

The sea and mountains I have depicted in paintings

And that I have carved into stones

I will watch them even after my death with my eyes open.

     Meanwhile, the defeated samurai of the Urakami Army were reportedly pursued by the Akamatsu Army as they were fleeing back to Harima Province through Namaseguchi (Namazecho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 669-1102), and were almost completely wiped out.

     For your information, Sochiku finished writing the first half of Hosokawa Ryoke Ki in April, 1550, at the age of 69.  The second half was completed in March, 1573, when he should have been 92 years old.  The latter half could have been written by someone around him.  Hosokawa Masamoto (1466-1507), who was the 24th, 26th, 27th, and 28th Deputy of Muromachi Shogunate, and who was the 12th head of Kyocho-Hosokawa Family, realized the golden age of the Hosokawa Clan at large.  He had the executive power of the shogunate.  However, he devoted himself to Shugendo, the mountain asceticism in Japan, and kept women away from him.  His adopted sons eventually conflicted with each other.  As the Kyocho-Hosokawa Family split into two, Sochiku named his history book the Records of Two Hosokawa Families.

     Anyway, Kunisuke’s cousin, Chikaoki (?-1574), succeeded to the headship of the family, and killed himself when he surrendered Arioka Castle to Araki Murashige (1535-1586), a vassal of Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), on November 15th, 1574.  His son, Tadachika (1552-1600), fought for Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) and, after Hideyoshi's death, fought for Kuroda Nagamasa (1568-1623).  He was killed in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.  Tadachika's daughter, Okiku, was one of the 34 wives of Toyotomi Hidetsugu (1568-1595), the nephew of Hideyoshi.  The wives were all killed with their children by Hideyoshi, the wives’ uncle-in-law, and the children’s granduncle, on August 2nd, 1595.

     Chikaoki’s cousin, or Kunisuke's son, Masakatsu (1522-1596), survived.  After his father’s death, Masakatsu drifted around under the custody of his maternal grandfather, Mano Tokiaki.  Presumably, Kunisuke and Chikaoki might not get along well with each other.  Through Ise and Kozuke Provinces, they drifted to Suruga Province in 1558.  There, he was hired by Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560) to do odd jobs around him.  Somehow or other, he stood out as a leader of sea forces.

     After the Imagawa Clan was destroyed by Takeda Harunobu (1521-1573), Masakatsu transferred to Harunobu and helped to organize the Tekeda Sea Forces in 1571.  After the Tekeda Clan was destroyed by Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) in 1582, he transferred to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), and was appointed to a magistrate of sea forces at Shimizu Port, Suruga Province.  He who learns an art has a purchase made.

     Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, Masakatsu’s descendants not only survived but also prospered.  They made the lords of the Omura Domain in Kyushu.

     For your information, Itami Nagachika belonged to the same generation as Chikaoki.  He worked for the Later Hojo Clan, and revived Zenrin-ji Temple.  After Nagachika’s death, Masatomi was still working for the Later Hojo Clan when it was destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) in 1590.  His son was taken care of by his maternal uncle.  They became Buddhist monks; Chugo and Chuson.  Chugo made the head priest of Senso-ji Temple, whose position Chuson succeeded.  After the two, nothing is known about other descendants of Nagachika's line.  Not all the Itami Family members knew how to make it in the world, and not all maternal relatives were helpful.

     The name of the 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Nada, reminds many Japanese people of Japanese sake breweries in the cities of Kobe and Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.  The pilgrimage could have had something to do with the sake brewing industry.  Meanwhile, the place name Nada refers to the area between Muko River in the east and Ikuta River in the west.  Why are the (at least) 4 temples in the east of Muko River included in the pilgrimage?

It might have something to do with the history of Nada-Gogo sake breweries.

     Sometime between 1624 and 1645, Zakoya Bun'emon moved from Itami to Nishinomiya to start a brewery there.  As the Nishinomiya area was closer to the sea, it had the advantage in sending sake to Edo by sea.  Accordingly, some other sake breweries followed him.  In the other part of the Nada area, many of the present-day sake breweries were established from 1655 to 1736.  That was the rise of Nada-Gogo sake breweries.  Nada-Gogo, or the Five Villages in Nada, refers to Nishi, Mikage, and Uozaki in Kobe City, and Nishinomiya and Imazu in Nishinomiya City.

     Believe it or not, Itami City has the oldest sake brewery wooden buildings in existence.  Some even believe the city is the birthplace of refined sake.

     What happened to the other 29 member temples of Nada 33 Kannon Pilgrimage?  Presumably some of them were destroied and the others lost their histories in the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995.

     If you don't believe my story, why don't you taste sake from all the breweries in Nada and Itami hopefully in a day?  At least (At worst?), you will never mind whether my story is true or not by the time you have compared hundreds of items from the 27 or more Japanese sake breweries.

Address: 6 Chome-19-59 Konoike, Itami, Hyogo 664-0006

Phone: 072-779-8651

Yakami Castle Ruins

Address: Takagiyama, Yakamiuchi, Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo 669-2432

Phone: 079-552-5792

Handa-Kannonsan Castle Ruins

Address: Wadayamacho Handa, Asago, Hyogo 669-5241

Yagi Castle Ruins

Address: Yagicho Yagi, Nantan, Kyoto 629-0141

Kuroi Castle Ruins

Address: 4125 669 Kasugacho Tada, Tamba, Hyogo 669-4125

Juso Park

Address: 1 Chome-1 Jusomotoimazato, Yodogawa Ward, Osaka, 532-0028

Mitsuishi Castle Ruins

Address: Mitsuishi, Bizen, Okayama 705-0132

Okishio Castle Ruins

Address: Yumesakicho Miyaoki, Himeji, Hyogo 671-2121

Kanno-ji Temple

Address: 25-1 Kabutoyamacho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 662-0001

Phone: 0798-72-1172

Daimotsu Castle Site

Address: 2-chome-7-6 Daimotsucho, Amagasaki, Hyogo 660-0823

Kyoya

Address: 2-chome-1-2 Minamitsukaguchicho, Amagasaki, Hyogo 661-0012

Phone: 06-6429-1318

Kotoku-ji Temple

Address: 8 Teramachi, Amagasaki, Hyogo 660-0867

Phone: 06-6411-2424

Taiko-ji Temple

Address: 2 Chome-5-16 Ayaha, Ikeda, Osaka 563-0051

Phone: 072-751-3433

Arioka Castle Ruins

Address: 1 Chome-12 Itami, Hyogo 664-0846

Phone: 072-784-8090

   

Zenrin-ji Temple

Address: 6 Chome-40-32 Kamariyahigashi, Kanesawa Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0042

Phone: 045-781-9814

Trees In the Town

Virtual Nada 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #25 Jokyu-ji Temple

 

     Jokyu-ji Temple was re-founded by Edoku Domyo (1632－1721) in Shinden-Nakano Village.

     Why was it re-founded?  In 1631, the Tokugawa Shogunate issued a prohibition on founding new Buddhist temples.  Presumably, Priest Edoku made use of a temple registration of an abolished one.  It is unknown if the original temple's name was Jokyu-ji and it is also unknown where it was located.

     In the early Edo Period (1603-1867), as many masterless and thus jobless samurai became farmers, it was popular to cultivate wastelands to turn into fields to secure food.  Shinden-Nakano Village is the only village in Itami that was created through large-scale agricultural development.

     Before Shinden-Nakano Village was organized, this area was the land of Koya Village with Koya Shimo Pond, which had been built by Gyoki (668-749), along with Koya Kami Pond (now Konyo Pond).  The Koya Shimo Pond was reclaimed by Koya and Ikejiri Villages in 1608.  Part of the area that was reclaimed at that time later became a rice field in Shinden-Nakano Village.

     In 1629, Asano Magozaemon, Watanabe Shin'emon, and others were accepted after hoping to turn the Shibano Wasteland in the area of ​​Koya Village into fields.  Surprised, Koya Village appealed that they should develop the area.  However, as Magozaemon and others had applied for years, and, during that time, Koya Village had had no response, Koya Village's appeal was rejected.

     Magozaemon and others gathered more than 50 people from all over the province and began developing the following year.  The area which was developed at that time were called Sawada (literally Mountain Stream Field) and Nobiraki (Wasteland Development), and were located where the Tennoji River and Tenjin River meet.  They not only cultivated land, but also constructed 5 reservoirs, which were named with the name of developers, including Magozaemon Pond.

     Ito Sukeyuki opened Jokyu-ji Temple, which is the only branch in Itami City of Obaku-san Manpuku-ji Temple.  The Obaku Chan Sect was established by Priest Ingen (1592-1673), who came to Japan from China in 1654.  Sukeyuki was a samurai in Amagasaki, Settsu Province, studied the doctrine of Chan Buddhism under Ingen and worshiped it intently.  Sukeyuki wished to build a temple in Shinden-Nakano Village.  Sukeyuki consulted with Sekitei Doitsu, who asked his master, Mokuan Shoto (1611-1684), for founding an Obaku Chan temple.  The foundation of Jokyu-ji Temple was decided in 1682.  Sukeyuki began building a temple in the land of Tsutsujihara, Shinden-Nakano Village, and, in 1683, its buidings were erected.  Sukeyuki became the first parishioner of the temple.

     In 1682, the offspring of Asano Magozaemon, who developed ShindenNakano Village, donated land to support Jokyu-ji Temple.  In 1686, the Asano Family, who had believed in the Ikko Sect, a small, militant offshoot from the True Pure Land Buddhism, for generations, converted to the Obaku Chan Sect.  They added more grounds and built the main hall.  This led to the increase of parishioners with the relatives of the Asano Family and those involved in the development of the village.

     A little more about water in Shinden-Nakano Village and its 5 ponds:  Asano Magozaemon and others proceeded with cultivation of fields, and also built ponds to store and supply agricultural water.  5 ponds were built in 1629, each with the developer's name: Magozaemon Pond, Sakon'emon Ponds with a large one and a small one, Ichiemon Pond, Yajiemon Pond, and Jiemon Pond.

     Irrigation ditches were also built to pour the water from these ponds into the fields.  Each field in Shinden-Nakano Village has a corresponding pond from which water should be drawn, and there were rules for how to draw water.  For example, in 1753, an arrangement was made between Shinden-Nakano Village and Yasukura Village regarding how to draw water.

     In this way, the 5 (later 3) ponds played an important role in the villagers' lives, and the management was carried out jointly by creating water-supply cooperatives in the village.

     When problems arose with ponds or water, the leaders of the cooperatives negotiated with one another.  When pond repairs and civil engineering work such as dredging the pond were needed, the cooperatives supplied laborers.  When they drained the water from Magozaemon Pond, the cooperative of the pond took the fish from the pond and sold them..

     Ponds were very important in Shinden-Nakano Village and problems often arose with the use of the ponds.   As a result, they needed organizations like water-supply cooperatives, which were deeply involved in their daily lives.  

Address: 2 Chome-11-5 Nakanokita, Itami, Hyogo 664-0029

Phone: 072-777-2922

Trees In the Town

Virtual Nada 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Hensho-in Temple

 

     Hensho-in Temple is said to be one of the original 36 sub-temples of Kon’ya-dera or Kon’yo-ji Temple.

     Hensho-in Temple is also the #11 member temple of the Kawabe 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 2 Chome-167 Teramoto, Itami, Hyogo 664-0026

Phone: 072-779-8622

The Sarashina Diary: the Literary Diary of the Daughter of Sugawara Takasue from 1032 to 1039 (5)

 

     Nowadays, I deeply regretted the idle fancies of my old days.  As my parents would not accompany me to temples or shrines, I became impatient.  Now, I wished to be wealthy and influential and to bring up my children as I like to.  For myself, I’d like to become a millionaire and to do my best to pile up virtuous deeds for life in the other world.  So, encouraging my heart, I went to the Ishiyama-dera Temple on December, the twentieth-something day.  It snowed a lot and the route looked lovely.  As I saw the checkpoint at Osaka Pass, I remembered that it had been also in winter when I had passed it on my way up to Kyoto on such a windy day.  On remembering the day, it blew as rough as on the day.

The winds across the checkpoint of Osaka

Sound the same as they did long ago,

While my age has tripled since then.

     Seki-dera Temple had been made magnificent.  That reminded me of the old roughly hewn head of Buddha.  It touched my heart that years had passed.  The beach at Uchide did not look changed in the passing of months and years.

     Towards evening, I arrived at Ishiyama-dera Temple.  I went down to the purification house and went up to the main hall.  No voice was heard but the mountain wind was dreadful.  During Buddhist practices, I fell asleep.  I heard a voice saying, "From the inner shrine musk perfume has been bestowed.  Tell them at once."  At the words, I awoke and found it to be a dream.  I thought it was a good omen and passed the night in prayer.

     The next day, the wind raged and it snowed heavily.  I comforted my lonely heart talking with my companion, who was a waiting-lady of Yushi.  We left after staying there for 3 days.

     On October, 25th, 1046, Kyoto was in great excitement over the purification ceremonies before the harvest ritual which was held by Emperor Go-Reizen (1025-1068) for the first time after he succeeded to the throne on April 8th, 1045. 

     As for me, I had started purification and ablution to visit Hase-dera Temple in Hase and set out to the temple on the day.  My family tried to stop me, saying, “It’s a spectacle to be seen only once in one reign.  Even country people come to see it.  You are mad to leave Kyoto that very day when you can choose many other days to leave.  Your deeds will certainly be gossipped widely and down through generations."  My brother was very angry.  My husband, however, said, "Please, please, let her go as she likes."  According to my wish, my husband let me go.  His kindness and understanding of my obstination and stubbornness touched me.

     I pitied those who accompanied me.  They, with longing hearts, wanted to see the ceremony.  I thought, however, to myself, “What have we to do with such shows?  Buddha will be pleased with those who have the wills to come at a time like this.  I will surely receive the divine favour.”  We started before dawn.

     The ceremony parade was to come east through Nijo Oji Street.  We went through the street west.  My company wore pure white with pine torches flaming before us.  All the people on horseback, in carriage, or on foot who encountered us on their way to the stands prepared for sightseers said in surprise, "What is that?  What is that?"  They didn’t overlook us.  Some even made fun of us or ridiculed us.

     When I passed before the gate of Fujiwara Yoshinori (1002-1048), the Commander of the Bodyguard, his men were standing there before the wide-open portals.  They said, laughing, "Here goes a company to a temple, while there are many days and months in the world!"  There was one, however, who said seriously, "What is it to cultivate our eyes for a moment?  She must be firmly determined.  She will certainly receive Buddha's favour.  How silly we are!  We ought also to make up our minds in this way without sightseeing."

     I had wanted to leave Kyoto before the streets were lit up by the morning sun.  We had started in the middle of the night.  We waited for belated people at the big gate of Hosho-ji Temple, wondering if the very thick fog would become thinner.  People flowed in from the country like a river.  Nobody stood aside to make room for us.  Even ill-behaved and vulgar children passed beside my carriage with some difficulty and had words of wonder and contempt toward us.  I felt sorry that I had started that day, yet, praying to Buddha with all my heart, I arrived at the ferry port of Uji River.  Even there the people were coming up to Kyoto in throngs.  The ferrymen, seeing these numberless people, were filled with their own importance, and grew proud.  They, tucking up their sleeves, hid their faces and, leaning on their poles, would not bring their boats to the river bank at once.  They looked around whistling and assumed an indifferent air.  We could not cross the river for a long time, so I looked around the place, which I had felt a curiosity to see ever since reading the Tale of Genji, which tells that Princesses Oikimi, Nakanokimi, and Ukifune, who were nieces of the Shining Prince, lived here.  At last, we managed to get across the river and went to see the Uji Mansion, which became Byodo-in Temple in 1052.  I wondered if the residence Ukifune lived in looked like the mansion.

     As we had started before daybreak, my people were tired out.  We rested at Yahiroji (today's Noroji Tono, Joyo, Kyoto 610-0111) to eat.  Our guard scared us, "Isn’t that Mount Kurikoma, which is notorious for its robbers?   As it is towards evening, be ready with your weapons."  I listened to these words with a shudder, but we passed that mountain safely and the sun was at its summit when we arrived at Lake Nieno.  They went in several directions to seek lodging and returned, saying there was no proper place but only a lower-class hut.  As there was no other place, we took that.

     In the house to which the hut belonged, there were only 2 humble men, for the family had all gone to Kyoto.  The 2 men did not sleep that night at all, but kept watch around the house, going in and out of the house.  The women who were in the recess asked, "Why do you walk about so often?" and the men answered, "Why?  We have rented the hut to perfect strangers.  What should we do if the pot were stolen?  Wondering what we should do, we keep walking."  I felt both eerie and funny when I heard them.

     In the early morning, we left there.  We called at Todai-ji Temple and prayed there.  Isonokami Jingu Shrine was antique and on the verge of ruin.  That night, we lodged at a temple in Yamabe.  Although I was tired out, I recited some sutras and went to sleep.  In my dream, I saw a very noble and pure woman.  I went over to where she was.  The wind blew hard.  She found me out, and said, smiling, "For what purpose have you come?"  I answered, "How could I help coming?"  She said, "You would better be in the Inner Palace, and talk with the lecturer's wife." 　I found the dream delightful and promising, and kept praying more than before.

     We crossed the Hatsuse River and arrived at Hase-dera Temple in the evening.  After purifying, I went up to the temple.  I stayed there for three days.  When I was going to leave the next morning, I dozed off.  At night, I dreamt that someone threw in a cedar twig, saying, “That is a token bestowed by Goddess Inari.”  I was startled into waking up, to find it was only a dream.

     We left Todai-ji Temple far before dawn.  We could not find lodging, and again spent a night in a very small hut before we crossed Nara-saka Hill.  "This place is very shady and suspicious.  Do not sleep!”  “Even if something unexpected happens, don't be panicked!  Keep lying down even without breathing!"  Hearing these words, I spent the night in cheerlessness and in dread.  I felt that I lived a thousand years that night.  When the day dawned and we were leaving the hut, I was told that we had been in a robbers' den and that the mistress of the house had been doing something strange and mysterious.

     We crossed the Uji River in a high wind and the ferryboat passed very near the fixed fishing nets.

I have known the fixed fishing net in the Uji River

Only by name, but today

I even count its poles and the waves among them.

     As I have written down events which happened in the intervals of 2-3 years or 4-5 years without the links among them, my life might seem to have been nothing but that of an ascetic who doesn’t stay long in one place, but I was not.  I have jotted down the happenings in years of betweens.

     In the spring of 1047, I stayed in Kurama-dera Temple.  It was a soft spring day, with mist trailing over the mountainside.  Locals dug out and brought some tokoro roots from mountains as food and I found them yummy.

     When I left there, the flowers were already gone and it wasn’t beautiful.  When I went there again in October, however, the mountain views along the way were more beautiful than anything else.  The mountainside looked as if brocade was spread and displayed.  The stream, rushing headlong and overflowing, looked as if shattered crystals were gushing out.

     When I arrived at the temple and reached the monastery, the maple leaves, wet with a shower, were brilliant beyond comparison.  I found the scene something like:

Red leaves are said to fall deeper into autumn every time it rains.

How the rain in deep mountains colored and woven the brocade

More deeply and brilliantly than those in other places?

     After 2 years or so, I stayed again in Ishiyama.  It rained hard all night.  I had heard rain is annoying on a journey, and opened the shutter, to find the waning moon lighting even the depths of the ravine.  What I thought was rain was the stream rippling below the roots of the trees.

The mountain brook sounds like rain.

Yet, the waning moon shines over all

Even more brightly than I have ever seen before.

     I paid a visit to Hase-dera Temple in Hatsuse again.  My journey was supported more by my family than before.  Along the route, people invited me to ceremonious dinners here and there, and we made nothing but slow progress.  The red leaves were beautiful at the Hosono Forest in Yamashiro Province.  I crossed the Hatsuse River, encouraged with the thought:

I get back to Hatsuse River again.

Last time, I only dreamt a Japanese cedar twig,

Which I should surely get this time.

     We left after staying there for 3 days.  This time, we were too many to lodge in that small hut at the foot of the Nara-saka Hill, so we camped in the field.  Our men pitched a tent with grass and twigs and let us stay in it.  They passed the night lying on mukabaki fur spread on the grass with straw mats covering them.  They could not sleep because of the dew which fell on their heads.  The moon was clear and incomparably picturesque.

Even in the sky in our wandering journey,

The waning moon is no less beautiful

Than that in the sky in Kyoto.

     Although he wasn’t like protagonists in romance stories or tales, my husband, Tachibana Toshimichi (1002-1058), saticfied me economically and socially.  Even when I went on distant pilgrimages, I can humorously write about my pleasures, suffuring, and fatigue on the journeys.  Naturally, I could not only dispel frustrated feelings about my husband’s not being romantic but also felt reliable and dependable.  I had no pressing sorrow in those days and tried to bring up my young sons to the level I could think of.  I was looking forward to see years passing.  I just hoped my husband, upon whom I depended, would be happily successful in life like other noblemen.   Having that hope encouraged me.

     A dear friend of mine, who used to talk with me a lot, and who used to exchange tanka poems with me nights and days, not so often as of old but still continued to write to each other.  She went down to Echizen Province as the wife of the Governor of the province.  All communication between us ceased.  Finding the means of sending a message to her with great difficulty, I wrote her a tanka poem:

Our friendship that had never died out

Is just dying out,

As the snow along the route to Echizen is so deep.

     She wrote back:

The snow of Mount Haku-san in Echizen

Is too deep for a little pebble under it to reveal itself.

My friendship is like the pebble but never dies out.

     I went down to the depth of Nishiyama in the western hills of Kyoto on March 1st.  There were no people seen and a haze mildly and calmly enclosed us.  Quietly and melancholically, only cherry blossoms were blooming all over.

Too far from town, in the depths of mountains,

The cherry blooms and wastes its blooms away

With none to see.

     When the sorrow of our marital relations troubled my heart, I made a retreat in Koryu-ji Temple in Uzumasa.  To me, there arrived a letter from a senior waiting-lady who served Princess Yushi.  While I was answering it, the sound of a temple bell carried to me, and I wrote to her:

The sound of the evening bell

Reminds me of the sorrow of the outer world

And has lonely grow in my heart.

     One day, I visited Princess Yushi’s residence, where it was cheerful and peaceful.  I talked with 2 congenial friends.  I left the residence and, the next day, finding life rather tedious, I thought longingly of them and sent a tanka poem:

We used to work together in the rough sea of tears,

Dampening our sleeves with our tears.

Yet, I miss those days.

One wrote back:

I’m still diving in the rough sea of tears,

Without finding any shells or something worth,

But with my sleeves always wet with the sea water.

     And the other wrote back:

Who would dive into the rough sea of tears,

Awaiting the waves to subside,

If the sea vegetables weren’t available,

     The friend who had the same mind as me, who had exchanged messaged with each other, and who talked about every unpleasant, heartbreaking, and joyful things of the world, went down west to Chikuzen Province.  One night, when the moon was very bright, I remembered that I once had visited Princess’s residence on such a night.  On the night, we wouldn’t go to sleep, but sat up gazing up to the moon.  Missing the night, I went to bed.  I met her in the residence as we used to do.  I awoke startled.  It was a dream.  The moon was then near the western ridge of the mountain.  I remembered Ono no Komachi once composed:

Was it because I was sleeping with the thought of him

That he appeared to me in my dream?

If only I had known it was a dream, I would not have woken up.

     I also thought, "I would have not awakened," and composed: 

I woke up to find my bed heartbreaking.

The moon, which goes west!

Please tell her I miss you.

     In Autumn, 1056, I had occasion to go down to Izumi Province, where my brother, Sugawara Sadayoshi (1002-1065), was the Governor.  We took a boat from Yodo, and the short voyage along Yodo River was very picturesque.  We stayed at Takahama (today's Takahama, Shimamoto, Mishima District, Osaka 618-0012) along the river for a night.  It was dark, and, very late at night, I heard the sound of an oar.  As I asked about it, I was told that a woman singer had come.  My companions were excited and called her boat to come alongside ours.  She was lit by a distant fire.  She only wore a foundation garment and her sleeves were long.  She shaded her face with a fan and sang with pathos.  The scene seemed deeply charming.

     The next evening, when the sun was still on the mountaintop, we passed the beach of Sumiyoshi.  The boundary between the sky and the sea was hazed all in mist.  Pine branches, the surface of the sea, and the beach where waves rolled up, were all more beautiful than a picture.

In the evening of Autumn,

What words can describe the seashore of Sumiyoshi!?

What can be compared with it?

     As the boat was towed along the beach, I looked back again and again, never satiated.

     In the Winter, I returned to Kyoto.  We took our boat at Otsu Bay, the nearest port from the provincial government office.  That night, a tempest raged with such fury that even rocks seemed to be shaken.  Thunder came roaring, and the sound of dashing waves and the tumult of winds made me feel that my life was coming to an end.  My people dragged the boat ashore, where we spent the night.  The rain stopped, but not the winds.  We could not start.  We spent 5 or 6 days on these wide-stretching sandhill.  When the wind had finally gone down a little, I looked out, rolling up the curtain of my cabin.  The evening tide was rising swiftly and cranes called to each other in the inlet.

     Provincial officials came in crowds to see us.  They said that if we had sailed out for Ishizu that night, nothing would have remained of the boat.  The words terrified me:

If the boat had sailed out before the storm raged

Toward Ishizu in the wild sea,

Our boat could have disappeared among the waves.