Haiku Travels
Ueno Park (Tokyo)
In danger,
the cherry at the well:
a drunken party
idobata no / sakura abunashi / sake no yoi
Shushiki
[The well in the grounds of the Kiyomizu Hall in Ueno Park]
Ueno Park, situated on an elevation from which one in the far away past could see Edo Bay, stands in the unlucky northeast direction or kimon seen from Edo Castle, and therefore a large temple was located here to protect the city (just as Kyoto was protected by Enryakuji on Mt Hiei). Kaneiji was built by the abbot Tenkai at the request of the second shogun Hidetada. Sponsored by the shogunate (some of whose members were laid to rest in the temple's graveyard) it prospered and soon counted 36 halls and 36 subtemples in an area which covered more than a million square meters, presided over by a huge main hall. It was the headquarters in eastern Japan of the mighty Tendai denomination from Mt Hiei. That hall is no more (it used to stand where the fountains now play, in the center of the park) as it was destroyed with much of the rest of the temple in 1868 when 2,000 Tokugawa loyalists made a futile last stand against a superior imperial army. It was the Dutch military doctor and professor of medicine A.F. Bauduin who in 1873 persuaded the new Meiji government to turn the huge temple site into a city park, in line with other large cities of the world that all have their famous patches of greenery (out of gratitude his bust was put up in the park, but until 2006 mistakenly the statue of his brother stood here...)..
[The Kiyomizu hall of Kaneiji]
Kaneiji still exists but has been so much split up and scattered that it seems as if there never was a temple here. Its simple new main hall (obtained from a temple in Kawagoe) has been tucked away behind the heavy barrier of the Tokyo National Museum. In the park itself, only two of the original buildings still survive: the Kiyomizudo Temple, a smaller imitation of the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto (although there is little resemblance); and the Five Storied Pagoda standing forlorn inside Ueno Zoo.
Already in the days of Kaneiji, Ueno was famous for its cherry blossoms - and today it is the prime blossom spot in Tokyo. The cherry trees were planted by the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu
in commemoration of Tenkai, the priest who had established Kaneiji. The
trees were brought from the famous cherry blossom viewing area of
Yoshino, in present-day Nara Prefecture.
The inhabitants of the city turn out in large numbers at blossom-viewing time, so that a visit to the park has more the character of 'people-viewing.' Groups sit under the trees, showered upon by the falling blossoms. People eat and, especially, drink, and the sake is responsible for quite a hilarious atmosphere.
Jolliness is not always good for tender blossoms and slender trees. This was already noted by Oaki, the 13 year-old daughter of a sweet shop in Nihonbashi, who wrote haiku under the literary name of 'Shushiki.' The poem, written in the Genroku era (1688-1704), became famous in the whole city. Oaki was a pupil of Kikaku, who in his turn had studied under Basho.
Whether the well on the above photo which stands in the grounds of the Kiyomizudo is really Shushiki's original well, is rather questionable - to say nothing about the cherry tree standing at its side. But through the centuries the small poem still speaks to us in all freshness.
Whether the well on the above photo which stands in the grounds of the Kiyomizudo is really Shushiki's original well, is rather questionable - to say nothing about the cherry tree standing at its side. But through the centuries the small poem still speaks to us in all freshness.
The haiku stone stands - just as the well - at the back of the Kiyomizu Hall in Ueno Park, behind a fence, and dates from 1940. The present cherry tree was planted in 1978 and is the ninth in line.
Location: Ueno Park is next to Ueno Station on the JR Yamanote Line, and the Ginza and Hibiya Subway Lines. The Keisei Line towards Narita also starts here. The Kiyomizu Hall stands not far from the steps that lead into the park from the main entrance close to Ueno Station (where the statue of Saigo Takamori looks down upon the city). Admission free.
Read about the history of Ueno Park and Kaneiji in Tokyo Now & Then, An Explorer's Guide, by Paul Waley (Weatherhill 1984) - unfortunately, like so many other excellent books, out of print.
Photos:
The photos are my own.
Ukiyo-e
Hiroshige , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
