Kyoto

Travelers' Takes

Rates and Deals

Rakushisha - The hut of the fallen persimmons

More Photos
Idler
Idler
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
Review
4
Photos
Editor Pick

Rakushisha - The hut of the fallen persimmons

  • July 5, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Idler from Poolesville, Maryland
Rakushisha - The hut of the fallen persimmons


In my hut this spring,
There is nothing –
There is everything!

Yamaguchi Sodō (1642-1716)

In Saga, a northwestern suburb of Kyoto, haiku enthusiasts make pilgrimages to Rakushisha, "The Hut of the Fallen Persimmons." This unpretentious thatched hut was the home of Mukai Kyorai (1651-1704), one of ten disciples of Matsuo Bashō, the legendary poet. While Kyorai’s original cottage fell into ruin after his death, devotees of Bashō reconstructed the cottage, and it is this modest dwelling that one can visit today.

During Bashō’s day, Arashiyama was a remote mountainside area of pastoral charm. The haiku master visited Kyorai’s cottage on three occasions, enjoying visits to nearby temples and excursions on the river. During his second visit in 1691, he wrote The Saga Diary based on events and observations during his seventeen-day stay.

There is a curious story about how the Hut of the Fallen Persimmons got its name, and like many stories involving haiku poets, it has an unexpected twist or turn, much like haiku itself. It seems that Kyorai had a large grove of persimmon trees in his garden, and it was his custom to sell whatever fruit he could not eat himself. One autumn he had an exceptional persimmon crop, and the shiny orange fruit hung heavy on the trees. Kyorai made arrangements to sell the fruit to a local merchant, receiving a large sum in advance.

Alas, the very night before the harvest, a howling gale blew through Arashiyama (the name Arashiyama, in fact, means "stormy mountain"), and the crop was destroyed. Kyorai, who up until then had been feeling quite smug at his good fortune, had a moment of Zen enlightenment, or satori experience: he felt fate had intervened to teach him a lesson about the futility of striving after worldly gain. Mocking himself, he wrote the following haiku:

Master of Persimmons
treetops are close to
Arashiyama

After this incident, he always referred to his cottage as Rakushisha, the hut of the fallen persimmons. A few hundred meters from his cottage lies his humble gravestone, only 40cm high, with one word, "Kyorai," carved on its face.

Today his cottage is still evocative of the simplicity and humility that haiku poets seek. Everyday items, such as a pair of wooden zori left at the entrance, make it seem as if the hut’s owner has just taken them off and stepped inside. Throughout the garden there are numerous poem stones bearing the haiku of famous poets who have made pilgrimages to Rakushisha. One stone bears the poem Bashō wrote before departing on his second visit:

Summer rain
on the wall traces of
torn poem cards

A reference, no doubt, to the onset of the rainy season as he looked back fondly on all the haiku sessions he enjoyed with visitors there.

Certainly Bashō felt an attachment to the Rakushisha, for his Saga Diary concludes, "Tomorrow I leave the hut of the fallen persimmons and nostalgia hangs over my heart."

From journal Kyoto in Seventeen Syllables

Compare Kyoto Rates

1. Enter travel information

City

2. Select websites to compare rates

Each selected website will open a new window.

Kyoto Travel Deals