RAKUSHISHA
1. Rakushisha is the cottage of the Genroku poet Mukai Kyorai. Kyorai
was one of the ten disciples of the famous haiku poet Matsuo Basho.
Basho once referred to Kyorai in this way: "In Kyoto there is Kyorai,
who is in charge of haikai in Western Japan". Kyorai was the most
important poet to continue Basho's authentic style after the master
died.
2. Rakushisha is shown in Shui Miyako Meisho Zue (Map of Famous Places
in Kyoto), "at the foot of Ogurayama and behund Hinoyashiro in
Yamamoto-cho". The Hinoyahiro is now the tomb of Uchiko Naishin'no, the
sixth daughter of Emperor Saga.
3. In the garden we have a poem sotne which was made Inoue Juko, a
relative of Kyorai and a disciple of a haiku poet named Chomu, in the
autumn of 1772 with this poem:
Kakinushi ya master of persimmons
kozue wa chikaki treetrops are close to
Arashiyama Stormy Mountain
As the story goes, Kyorai had about forty persimmon trees in the garden
of his hut in Saga. One autumn when they were heavy with fruit, he had
arranged to sell the persimmons. But the night before they were to be
picked a great storm arose. The next morning not a single persimmon was
left on the trees. Kyorai was enlightened by this experience, and from
then on called the hut "Rakushisha" (the cottage of the fallen
persimmons).
4. Kyorai's master Basho visited Rakushisha three times; in 1689. 1691,
and 1694. When he visited here the second time, he stayed from April 18
to May 5. The diary he kept then is called "Saga Nikki" and was
published in the third year of Horeki (1573). His last visit to
Rakushisha was about four months before he died.
5. In the western corner of the garden there is a poem stone with the poem:
samidare ya summer rains
shikishi hegitaru trace of a poem card
kabe no ato torn off the wall
This is Basho's haiku with wich he ended his "Saga Nikki."
6. On the poem stone next to it is the haiku by Takahama Kyoshi:
oyoso tenka ni I've visited
Kyorai hodo no the world's smallest
chiisaki haka ni Kyorai's
mairi keri gravestone
He made this poem when he visited the gravestone in the 41st year of
Meiji (1908). The calligraphy was done by the poet himself, and the
stone was made in Showa 34 (1959).
7. To the north of those two stones there is a small stone monument to
Shaku Hyosai, who was a famous journalist for the Asahi (newspaper) and
demonstrated his talent in haiga (haiku paintings), He made a great
contribution to the conservation of Rakushisha. We have a poem stone of
his haiku at the entrance to the Kyorai's graveyard;
akikaze ni left behind
fuki nokosarete the autumn wind
haka hitotsu single gravestone
8. There is a gorinto (five stone monument) called "haijin to" (monument
for haiku poets) at the back of the garden. It was erected by Kudo
Shiranshi, the eleventh master of Rakushisha, and is dedicated to all
the haiku poets in the past, present and future.
Note: Gorinto is a monument composed of five pieces piled up one
upon another representing, from the bottom upward, earth, water, fire,
wind, and heaven respectively.
9. A poem stone to the "haijin to" has the haiku in the original
calligraphy of a former president of Kyoto University, Hirasawa Ko,
haru no ame the spring rain
ame tsuchi koko ni heaven and earth here
haijin to the monument
haiku poets
10. Kyorai's gravestone is in the Kogenji Graveyard a hundred meters
north of Rakushisha. Only his name "Kyorai" is carved in the natural
stone which is only forty centimeters tall.
11. Rakushisha is now conserved by the Rakushisa Conservation Association.