Cherry Blossom Lake

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Cherry Blossom Lake 大垪和の池の花見

The Cherry Blossoms were very dear to Saigyo, a priest-poet in the Heian Period.
Here I want to show you our lake and some poems of Saigyo.
Sato Norikiyo 佐藤義清


This world so dear
cannot be cherished enough
I leave my life to save it


Warrior Norikiyo Satoh left his worldy life on October 15, 1140.
His Buddhist name was Saigyo.





I take a new path this year
to visit the cherry flowers
I have yet to see




Saigyo lays under the branches of a cherry blossom tree
and gazes at the flowers to his heart's content.

He watches the flower petals scattering in the air,
and recalls the days of his past.





Travelling is life.

Life is travelling.


Chanting sutras to hide his loneliness, he came to the banks of the Tozu river and there, the cherry blossoms welcomed him with their branches streched out,
all in full bloom.





Live with the cherry blossoms.
Die with the cherry blossoms.

When one hears the name Saigyo, cherry blossoms come to mind.
Indeed, Saigyo composed an unusual number of poems
about these spring flowers during the course of his life.

Especially when he sings of the falling flowers,
his mind seems to be taken into another world.





Among the scattering petals, Saigyo saw a sacred world.
Unable to keep his mind from floating away with the petals,
he continued to sing of cherry blossoms until his death.





If I may
I wish to die
under the cherry blossoms in spring
just around the full moon
in April




It was day 16 of the second lunar month of the year 1190.
Saigyo was 73 years old.
It is said that he died in the Hirokawa temple in Kawachi in central Japan.



.. .. .. Namu Amida Butsu ... 南無阿弥陀佛





Photos from Tanjoo-Ji Temple, Okayama Prefecture
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2005/03/autumn-days.html

© Photos by Gabi Greve, April 2005

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Text quoted from here:
http://www.park.org/Japan/Hitachi/nippon/saigyo_e/sakura_prof.html
http://www.park.org/Japan/Hitachi/nippon/saigyo_e/prof_c.html
http://www.park.org/Japan/Hitachi/nippon/saigyo_e/prof_r.html


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SAIGYO, Saigyoo Hooshi (西行法師)
1118年(元永元年) - 1190年3月23日(文治6年2月16日)）

Saigyo Memorial Day, Saigyoo Ki 西行忌　（さいぎょうき）
En-I Ki 円位忌（えんいき）

kigo for mid-spring
SAIJIKI for Memorial Days

Some sources place the exact day on February 15 or 16, others on March 23, according to the use of the Asian or the Western Calendar.

February 15 is also celebrated as the day when Buddha Shakyamuni entered Nirvana and is auspicious to die around this date.

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Born Satō Norikiyo (佐藤義清) in Kyoto to a noble family, he lived during the traumatic transition of power between the old court nobles and the new samurai warriors. After the start of the Age of Mappō (1052), Buddhism was considered to be in decline and no longer as effective a means of salvation. These cultural shifts during his lifetime led to a sense of melancholy in his poetry.

As a youth, he worked as a guard to retired Emperor Toba, but in 1140 at age 22, for reasons now unknown, he quit worldly life to become a monk, taking the religious name En'i (円位).
He later took the pen name, "Saigyō" meaning Western Journey, a reference to Amida Buddha and the Western paradise. He lived alone for long periods in his life in Saga, Mt. Koya, Mt. Yoshino, Ise, and many other places, but he is more known for the many long, poetic journeys to he took to Northern Honshū that would later inspire Basho in his Narrow Road to the Deep Interior.
He was a good friend of Fujiwara no Teika. Some main collections of Saigyō's work are in the Sankashū, Shin Kokin Wakashū, and Shika Wakashū. He died in Hirokawa Temple in Kawachi Province (present-day Osaka Prefecture) at age 72.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Some more links to Saigyo and his poetry

Ryoo-0nji Temple (The cherry blossoms of Izayoi) .. 龍穏寺(十六日桜)..

静かなる山下影に庵あり 雪粧（よそ）わせて見る桜かな 西行
http://www.lib.ehime-u.ac.jp/KUHI/ENG/kuhieng124.html

Yoshino and Saigyo
http://www.pref.nara.jp/nara/kaido/eg/syugen/d2_reki/reki9.htm

The Tale of Saigyo - illustrated beautifully
http://ddb.libnet.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/exhibit-e/otogi/sai/sai1.html


Cherry Blossoms (sakura, Japan) ...
... and many related kigo in the WKD


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