When we were in Tokyo in February we discovered that the haiku poet Basho lived in our neighbourhood (okay, the next neighbour hood over, but in the context of Tokyo – neighbours). We went and saw a reconstruction of the hut where he lived, and walked a long the river reading some of his poems.
On this trip we left Aizuwakamatsu and made our way to the city of Sendai. I must admit that as soon as we were checked in to our hotel and had had a nap we went out for pizza and beer – after 4 days of delicious fancy Japanese food it sure hit the spot!
We took the tourist bus around the city – it looks like a nice spot. On the second day we took a train further up the coast to the town of Shiogama, which sits in the large bay called Matsushima. And look who we found there:
Our friend Basho-san, hanging out at the ferry terminal. As well as living in Edo (Tokyo) Basho was itinerant and roamed over large parts of Japan. And he visited Matsushima, declaring it the most beautiful view in Japan.
We had the luxury of a ferry ride, which took us from Shiogama to Matsushima town, threading through the many many islands that dot the bay. Shiogama is a busy port, with a facility for ship repair (the Japanese Coast Guard was in for a check up), a power plant, and all the stuff that goes with boats. Further out in the bay were small boat fishermen, and aquaculture – looked like they were growing oysters.
We were there to see the islands..
My personal geologist was happy to point out the different layers of rock – some sandstone that weathers easily in the surf, alternating with layers of more resistant conglomerate.
There were only five of us on our boat – I think there were more crew than passengers that day! It was a surprise when we wound our way to Matsushima town to find a big pier with 4 huge boats loading sightseeing passengers on board, lines of people waiting on the dock, and tour groups following their leads waving umbrellas. This is the place where most people who come to see the islands jump off from. It was a happening place. There were tour buses stashed in every spare parking lot, and many of them held the scores of high school students being shepherded through town. Totally different energy than Shiogama. I’m glad we had our lovely quiet ride up the bay.
Wilf had noted that there was a fish market and we headed there for lunch. I was a bit surprised that it was several blocks inland – usually fish markets are right on the water. Turns out this wasn’t a place where people bought fresh fish and seafood right off the boat. But it did provide a great lunch!
First step –
Read the menu board, choose what we wanted and remembered the price shown.
Nest step:
Go inside and approach the ticket machine. Discover that it has an English language option – yay! Slight problem in that none of the names match the menu outside, but by looking a the prices and pictures we order our lunch and take our tickets.
About 5 minutes later our order comes up…
To be collected from the queen of the market.
Found a table outside
And lunch is served. I had the tuna sashimi bowl. Three kinds of tuna sashimi on a bed of rice with a dab of miso, some ginger and wasabi. Wilf had a seafood mixture over rice.
A prawn, sushi style!
After our lunch we walked along the harbour to visit a little island. It is attached to the mainland by a pretty red bridge, and people have been worshipping here for millennia.
As the day wore on the rain began and the bay began to look more and more like a painting, all in tones of grey.
The island has many sculptures, both ones like this sitting out under the trees and others cut into the stone of the island.
Basho wrote many poems, and there is a poem about Matsushima that is sometimes attributed to him, but apparently he did not write it….
松島やああ松島や松島や
matsushima ya aa matsushima ya matsushima ya
matsushima
aaah! matsushima
matsushima..
I’ll leave you instead with a poem that he did write, and that is considered one of the greatest haiku
古池や 蛙飛び込む 水の音
Old pond…
a frog jumps in
water’s sound
Where I'm At 