Kiso no tochi / ukiyo no hito no / miyage kana
Kiso horse-chestnuts
For the weary in the world
some such souvenirs
Matsuo Bashō, Autumn, 1688 (translated by Andrew Fitzsimons in Bashō - The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Bashō).
In Bashō's (1644-1694) time, the eating of horse-chestnuts was associated with hermits and monks. Bashō sent the poem above - and some chestnuts - to his friend (and sometimes walking companion) Kakei in Nagoya.
Speaking of walking companions, this time next week I will be with mine (old friends and new) strolling along the Kiso Road. A section of the Nakasendo Way, The Kiso Road tour is the first of two walks retracing Bashō steps on our Japan itinerary. I will keep an eye out for chestnuts!
Over the course of my three weeks in Japan, I'll be posting seventeen syllables (along with seventeen or so images!) a day as my friends and I walk, eat, laugh, reflect, and paint our way around parts of Honshu, Japan's largest island.
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