Matsuo Basho

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- Haiku by Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉　-

featuring the kanji for dragon 龍 .


The main WKD KIGO DATABASE entry is here

. Kigo and Haiku about Dragon .

. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

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龍宮も今日の潮路や土用干
龍宮もけふの潮路や土用干
ryuuguu mo kyoo no shioji ya doyoo boshi

there is a tide way
to the Dragon palace today -
airing all things

written in 1677, third day of the third lunar month
延宝5年3月3日
This is the year when Basho decided, at age 34, to become a professional "haikai master" 俳諧師.
This was the day of the great spring flood tide.
The sea receeded so much that even the folks at the Dragon Palace could air their belongings on this occasion.
This hokku shows the gentle humor and vivid imagination of Basho, mixing real events with old legends.


. doyoo-boshi 土用干 airing during the dog-days .
kigo for late summer


The legend of Urashima Tarō 浦島太郎 and the
. Ryūgū-jō 竜宮城 the Dragon Palace .


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source :　itoyo/basho
Nara, Yoshino, Ryumon Dragon Gate Waterfall
at the foot of mount Ryumondake (Dragon Gate Peak), Yoshino 吉野.
奈良県吉野町大字平尾龍門瀧 - 龍門岳

Basho is alluding the the famous Chinese poet 酒仙人李白, who loved to drink while observing beautiful nature and waterfalls.

南見瀑布水 挂流三百丈 噴壑數十里
falling straight down for three thousand JO　丈
it looks as if the Milky Way
had fallen from the sky

. Li Po, Li Bo, Li Bai 李白 .



龍門の花や上戸の土産にせん
ryuumon no hana ya joogo no tsuto ni sen

written in 1688、Basho at age 45 (Oi no kobumi 笈の小文)
This hokku has the cut marker YA in the middle of line 2.


Dragongate Falls
flowers opening — a gift
for my drinking friends
Tr. Barnhill



Dragon Gate—
a splendid souvenir
for my drinking friends
Tr. ? publishersrow.com




source :　itoyo/basho



and another one from the same occasion

酒のみに語らんか ゝる瀧の花
sakenomi ni kataran kakaru taki no hana / sake nomi ni

I'll tell my drinking friends
of these blossoms
hanging over the waterfall
Tr. ? scribd.com


drinking friends
to talk I'll hang over like this
a waterfall of flowers
Tr. Reichhold


There is a stone memorial for this haiku
at the temple Jookaiji 浄閑寺 Jokai-Ji in Yoshino.
奈良東吉野村浄閑寺



. Dragon Waterfalls 　龍の滝 .


MORE - hokku about drinking sake by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

MORE - hokku about Yoshino
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

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五月雨や龍燈あぐる番太郎
samidare ya ryuutoo aguru Bantaroo

samidare rain -
the "Dragon Lantern" shines
from the flood warden's hut

written in 1677 延宝5年, Basho at age 34


Bantaro, tsujiban kidoban 辻番（木戸番, 橋番) is a flood warden or bridge warden, who has to keep an eye on the water level to warn people of imminent danger. They were very important in the Edo period.
banta　番太 caretaker of something
When the flood warden puts out his lamp to warn people, it looks almost like the "Dragon Lamp", a natural phenomenon observed along the seacoast of Japan.
Basho had worked for the Water Department of the Edo Government and maybe spent some time as a Bantaro himself.

This is a hokku where Basho pictures the customs of the Edo period very well.



source :　龍燈、龍灯、竜灯- wikipedia


. ryuutoo 龍燈 Ryuto, "dragon lantern" .
A phenomenon at the Ariakekai sea in Kagoshima, Kyushu, in the evening hours.
It is also seen in other parts of Japan as a light that the Dragon God sends out to honor the deities of Shinto and Buddhism in Japan.
kigo for mid-autumn


. samidare 五月雨 rain in the fifth lunar month .
Now it refers mostly to the rain during the Rainy Season.


mizu bannin 水番人 water supervisors
under the mizu bugyoo of Edo
source : edomatsu/josui



. Ryuuguu jinja 龍宮神社 Ryugu Jinja - Dragon Palace .
Shrines in Japan


. Ryuutooki 龍燈鬼 Ryutoki .
Demon carrying a Dragon Lantern


. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

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. 龍燈 / 龍灯 / 竜灯 と伝説 Legends about Ryuto, "Dragon Lantern" .

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