秋十年却って江戸を指す故郷
aki totose kaette edo o sasu kokyoo


ten autumns
I now think of Edo
as my home
—Basho


(Tr. David LaSpina)

_{("Clear Weather after Snow at Nihonbashi Bridge", from the series "Famous Places in Edo" by Hiroshige)}

Basho had been living in Edo† for a decade and was about to set out on a trip. This is the second poem from his travelogue of that journey. Travel in those days was dangerous and he might have had some expectation of not living to see the end of the trip, but he was committed to the idea of poetry treks, emulating his mentor the 12th century Buddhist poet Saigyo who wandered across the country recording his poetry.

I feel some degree of kinship to Basho when I read this poem. I have lived in Japan more than ten autumns, but like him, I now think of this as my home.

Basho was getting at a bit more than that, though. There is a Japanese word (shukke, "departing from home") that refers to when a person retires from life and enters a Buddhist monastery. Basho is not joining a monastery here, but he is leaving his life—if only for the moment—to enter the life of a traveler. As such, he feels the need to label what he is leaving as his home.

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Footnotes:

†: Present day Tokyo.

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Don't miss other great haiku in the Haiku of Japan series!

#1–10 — Haiku of Japan :: Collection #1
#11–20 — Haiku of Japan :: Collection #2
#21–30 — Haiku of Japan :: Collection #3
#31—40 — Haiku of Japan :: Collection #4
#41–50 — Haiku of Japan :: Collection #5
#51 — Dewdrop World
#52 — A Fleeting Life
#53 — The Only Sound
#54 — Autumn Clouds
#55 — Playing Dewdrops
#56 — To the Last Drop
#57 — A Rest From Moonviewing
#58 — Forever Young
#59 — Fading into the Mist
#60 — Wiping Horse Poop
#61 — Turncoat Umbrella

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I post one photo everyday, as well as a haiku and as time allows, videos, more Japanese history, and so on. Let me know if there is anything about Japan you would like to know more about or would like to see.

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Who is David?
	David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time.