WKD - Camphor Tree Kusunoki

rough times leaving their scars - old camphor tree schwere Zeiten hinterlassen Spuren - alter Kampferbaum oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo a holy rope marks the deity - a thousand living years ein heiliges Seil schmueckt die Gottheit - tausend Jahre Leben oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 楠木や　千年万年の　傷の跡 大麻比古神社,大楠木 Oasahiko Shrine, Kusunoki

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My full story of this shirne is here:
Daruma Doll Museum : Ooasahiko Shrine Naruto


More about the sacred rope to God's ear,
the Shimenawa 注連縄


Shikoku Summer 2005 Our own Haiku Pilgrimage May 2005



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Kusunoki Masatsura 楠木正行
(1326 – February 4, 1348),

along with his father Masashige and brother Masanori, was a supporter of the Southern Imperial Court during Japan's Nanbokucho Wars.

Masatsura was one of the primary military leaders who revived the Southern Court in the 1340s. The Court had had little to no resources for three years; the strategy was too focused on defending their base at Yoshino, and not on gaining allies, land, or income. The Kusunoki family, and Masatsura in particular, fought to gain power and support for the Emperor.
In 1347, Masatsura led an attack on bakufu (shogunate) sympathizers in Kii Province and ended up attracting supporters from Kii, as well as Izumi and Settsu Provinces. When the Shogun's Northern Court sent Hosokawa Akiuji to stop him, Masatsura met Hosokawa and defeated him in the battle of Sakainoura.

After several more campaigns against the bakufu, Masatsura was killed in the Battle of Shijō Nawate, in February 1348 at the age of 22.
Before he died, he composed a death poem:

帰へらじと 兼ねて思へば 梓弓
亡き数に入る 名をぞとどむる

kaeraji to kanete omoeba azusayumi
nakikazu ni iru na o zotodomuru

I have a feeling
I will not be returning,
so among the names
of those who died by the bow
I inscribe my own.

©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !



I could not return, I presume,
So I will keep my name
Among those who are dead with bows.
source : Mitch Campbell 2009


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The warrior Kusunoki Masashige 楠木正成 (died 1337)
had a small statue of Marishiten in the decoration of his helmet. Others say so did Yamamoto Kansuke 山本勘助, Maeda Toshiie 前田利家and other samurai of old. Others used the small figure of a wild boar and the swastika.

. MARISHITEN　摩利支天



. Kanshinji 観心寺 Kanshin-Ji .
This temple was a place of study for the young Kusunoki Masashige ...


. Aichi, 旭土人形 clay dolls from Asahi .


made by 美濃部泰作 Minobu Daisaku

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撫子にかかる涙や楠の露
nadeshiko ni kakaru namida ya kusu no tsuyu

tears are falling
on this little pink -
dew from the camphor tree
Tr. Gabi Greve

Written about 貞亨元年, Matsuo Basho age 41 or later.

The pinks are below the camphor tree.
KUSU refers to the warrior Kusunoki Masashige 楠正成 (1294 - 1336).



The scene is "Separation in Sakurai"
(Sakurai no wakare 桜井の別れ), when Masashige has to send his son and heir Kusunoki Masatsura 楠木正行　(1326 - 1348) back to his headquarters in Kawachi Province. His tears fall on his sleeve, since this is a final farewell.
Basho represents the father as the tree,
the boy as the nadeshiko below the big tree.


MORE - Hokku about tears by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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observance kigo for early summer

Nankoosai 楠公祭 (なんこうさい) Nanko Festival
Festival for Lord Kusunoki
Nankoo matsuri （なんこうまつり）

May 25
(from May 24 to May 26)



Main shrine festival in honor of Kusunoki Masashige,
at Minatogawa Jinja in Kobe. 湊川神社　神戸
Masahige is believed to have died here.


More than 1000 people take part in the parade. Their costumes and equipment is all re-made like in the Kamakura period.
16 samurai as members of the Kusunoki clan take part riding on horseback.

. . . . .



Homepage of Minatogawa Shrine
with a video of the festival
http://www.minatogawajinja.or.jp/festival/
http://www.minatogawajinja.or.jp/


. Saijiki for Japanese Festivals


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. Kusunoki Jinja 楠木神社 .
andl the tanuki badger legend


Oldest camphor tree at
. Daizenji Tamadare no Miya 大善寺玉垂宮, .
Kurume city, Kyushu

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. Azuma no Mori renri no azusa 吾嬬の森連理の梓
The Conjoined Camphor Trees by the Azuma-no mori Shrine .
Hiroshige print

Today there is the Shrine 吾嬬神社 Azuma Jinja where 日本武尊 Yamato Takeru and his wife, 弟橘姫 Princess Ototachibana Hime, are venerated.
Former 吾嬬権現社 Azuma Gongen no Yashiro
In the compound is a huge kusunoki 樟 camphor tree with bifurcated stem.

Yamato Takeru went to the the North of Japan. He lost his wife Oto Tachibana-Hime during a storm when she sacrificed herself to soothe the anger of the sea god.
The shrine was built there and two 供養箸 ritual chopsticks placed in the ground.
Legend knows that these two chopsticks grew into the camphor tree.


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........................... plant KIGO


fallen leaves of the camphor tree,
kusu ochiba 楠落葉

this is a kigo for early summer, belonging to the group of
tokiwa ki no ochiba (tokiwagi ochiba)
ときはぎのおちば 常磐木落葉.


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