#fushigidono

Hijikata Toshizo

Original: おもしろき夜着の列や今朝の雪

Read all of Hijikata’s haiku poems here: https://shinsengumi-archives.tumblr.com/post/683071924948058112/hijikata-toshizos-haiku-poems

image source: WhiteWind歴史館

fushigi-dono:

Everyone probably knows about padded kimonos. During the cold season they used to cover themselves with them like a blanket at night. It was very convenient if you went to the toilet or somewhere else - put a blanket over yourself and go :)

Hijikata said, verbatim: "Funny - a row of night kimonos (and) the morning snow. That is, he does not say whether they are hanging, standing, or lying. So one can imagine that the laundry was drying and it got covered in snow, or that people in the morning in these same night kimonos came running to look at the first snow. The second version seems more plausible, because both kimonos and futons were hung out to dry in sunny, dry weather, and it is unlikely that anyone would have left them outside overnight in winter. That's unforgivable sloppiness So Hoshida-san suggests that this is a haiku about a winter morning at the Shieikan dojo. The future Shinsengumi leaders, dashing swordsmen, gathered in a row to admire the snow, all wearing blankets. That's funny :) I love this poem!

WhiteWind歴史館:

In front of the morning snow The sight of them lined up in their night kimonos (with their clothes on) Is interesting.

A "night kimono" is a kind of quilt in the shape of a kimono filled with cotton.

This is probably a scene from a winter morning at Kondo Isami's Shieikan Dojo, where Toshizo and the others were "staying". Future Shinsengumi leaders such as Okita Soji, Yamanami Keisuke, and Harada Sanosuke were looking out at the snow falling in the garden.

It was cold, so they were all lined up wrapped in their large "night kimono”. No matter what kind of swordsmen they were, cold is cold. Seeing such a funny appearance of his friends, Toshizo unintentionally captured the scene as a snapshot in haiku.

Hijikata Toshizo

Original: 梅の花咲る日だけにさいて散

Read all of Hijikata’s haiku poems here: https://shinsengumi-archives.tumblr.com/post/683071924948058112/hijikata-toshizos-haiku-poems

image source: WhiteWind歴史館

fushigi-dono:

The last haiku in this collection. Sad, like the ones about moths or melting snow...

I think it's no coincidence that it's written at the very end. It encapsulates the "path of the samurai" that Hijikata embarked on with a pure heart, as he wrote in the first haiku. Leaving for Kyoto and leaving this collection at home, he was already ready to "blossom and scatter”, putting all his energy into that blossom. Because plums, you know how they are! 

We learned a lot of things about him from this poetry collection. How he lived, what he admired, what he paid attention to... What he was like before he became Demon Vice-Commander. Although I think that even after Hijikata became Demon Vice-Commander, a lot of things about him remained the same.

So I'd like to finish with a poem that I think reflects the meaning of this whole collection. Author: just Vera:

Remember me not as a hero - I was not; but the era has commanded me To fly forward, into the bloody twilight of battle, And spurs, like a horse, thrust into me. I counted no victories or losses: There was no point in counting, When, at the end, gains and losses are reconciled Death is a swift and severe account-keeper. I shall return to you with autumn leaves, The rustling wind, the thin ice on the rivers... Remember me not as a hero. Remember me as a man.

Written by ginnan

WhiteWind歴史館:

Plum blossoms bloom and fall on the day they bloom

This phrase is written at the end of the collection of haiku. Condensing his way of life as a samurai into these 17 characters, Toshizo left for Kyoto, the place of his destiny.

He wanted to bloom to the fullest even if it was short, and to be graceful even in death... This phrase seems to crystallize the way of life of Toshizo, who fought until the very end of the Boshin War and then scattered.

Toshizo must have continued to write haiku after compiling this collection of haiku. Some of them must have been lost or destroyed during war.

In Kyoto, Aizu, Hakodate...

There is no way to know what kind of scenes and what kind of words he wrote about.

However, we can say that there is a lot of room for imagination for those of us who are as much "romantics" as Toshizo, and we can wonder what else he would have written.

(End)

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Hijikata Toshizo

Original: 知れば迷いしなければ迷わぬ恋の道

Read all of Hijikata’s haiku poems here: https://shinsengumi-archives.tumblr.com/post/683071924948058112/hijikata-toshizos-haiku-poems

image source: WhiteWind歴史館

fushigi-dono:

He who has fallen in love invariably falls into "mayoi" (lost in confusion or disillusion), and our lover-hero was clearly familiar with this feeling. And he who does not fall in love does not suffer from doubts and delusions, although it is not clear what he is doing in this case "on the road of love”. Maybe he just goes to fun neighborhoods

This is the only haiku in the entire collection that has the word "love" in it. And it's the only haiku circled. Hijikata Megumi explains: "Many people think that because Toshizo circled this poem, it means he was especially fond of it. But in fact, in the world of haiku poets, circling means that the poem was rejected. So he sort of crossed it out, saying, "Don't mind me, I wrote a rubbish poem. Hoshida Kei remembers how in "Moeyo Ken", Okita giggled at all the haiku except this one. And he adds: "If Toshizo had chosen love and family life, perhaps the history of the Bakumatsu would have been very different."

Next to this rejected poem is almost the same poem, in which "love" is replaced by "law"

WhiteWind歴史館:

If you know, you are lost If you don't, you won't be lost the path of love

It is funny just to imagine what kind of face "that Hijikata Toshizo" must have had when he wrote these haiku.

In Shiba Ryotaro's novel "Moeyo Ken", there is a scene in which Okita Souji comes across Toshizo composing a haiku as "Hogyoku", and he is scornful and appalled. This may be one of those scenes where even if you are not Okita, you would have a hard time commenting, "Oh dear..." (laughs).

Perhaps Toshizo himself thought, "I really shouldn't have done this," and composed another non-love haiku next to this one, using similar words. This phrase, which he wrote on a piece of paper, was not scribbled out; rather, it was deliberately circled.

Apparently, this is called "mise-gechi," which means to erase the part to be deleted so that it is visible, but to us, it looks as if he is insisting, "This part is important!”

Hijikata Toshizo

Original: 武蔵野やつよふ出て来る花見酒

Read all of Hijikata’s haiku poems here: https://shinsengumi-archives.tumblr.com/post/683071924948058112/hijikata-toshizos-haiku-poems

image source: WhiteWind歴史館

fushigi-dono:

The second haiku on the theme of "there's no excuse not to drink!” Judging by the fact that the occasion is still the same, it seems that admiring the cherry trees in the company of friends of the future Vice-Commander has always been marked by stormy libations :)

I don't really understand what "tsuyou idekuru" means here. In modern parlance, it usually means "to manifest strongly". Did the sake go to your head, or what? Judging by the picture and Hoshida Kei's comment, that's what it means: he accidentally drank too much, so he can't walk by himself, and she also thinks Gen-san is carrying him because he lives nearby, but I'm not so sure about that either.

There's also "tsuyoku deru" which means to be strong and resolute, and "sake-ni tsuyo" which means to be able to drink a lot without getting drunk. So perhaps what is meant is "to go and get drunk with determination”. And I'm also subconsciously reminded of our Russian "Good going!" Could this be it? Hmm...

It's not so simple with "Musasino" either. It can have three meanings: 1) Musashi is the native province of Hijikata, which included Edo, Tama, and Hino, in general all the surrounding area; "no" means field, plain. 2) Musashino is the name of a town between Edo and Hino. 3) Musashino - large cups for sake. Like, as bottomless and vast as Musashi's fields. Hoshida Kei has this in her dictionary, but she didn't find it out right away, so she added it later.

I found these Musashino cups on the internet. They have a capacity of 180 grams. Here, you can estimate the size:

So when movies show the Shinsengumi drinking sake from tiny traditional cups, don't believe it! At least in my homeland, when I was young, we used to drink with larger cups. Although, of course, maybe Hijikata was just referring to the fields.

WhiteWind歴史館:

Musashino You're going to get drunk hard. Hanami sake

He got drunk on hanami (cherry blossom viewing) sake.

He may have drunk more than he was allowed to drink at Hanami with his friends, and by the time they were ready to go home, they were "on their last  legs". I imagine him being carried on his back by someone like "Gen-san”.

Perhaps Toshizo was not a strong drinker by nature. In his collection of haiku poems, only two poems, this one and the aforementioned "I am on the hill," are clearly composed with sake as the theme.

A few years after enjoying the cherry blossom viewing, the members of the Shieikan became well known in the history of the Bakumatsu, but they were just ordinary young people who were a little bit out of place on a calm spring day, not so different from today's youth.

Hijikata Toshizo

Original: あはら屋に寝て居てさむし春の月

Read all of Hijikata’s haiku poems here: https://shinsengumi-archives.tumblr.com/post/683071924948058112/hijikata-toshizos-haiku-poems

image source: WhiteWind歴史館

fushigi-dono:

This haiku was also mocked in Peacemaker. The moon won't let Hijikata sleep anywhere, but in a shack. 

Although it could be that he, of course, was speaking modestly about his home, but somehow it doesn’t seem right to call a five-room house with two kitchens a “shack”. So most likely he got lost somewhere along the road, where it’s cold to sleep at night, not like at home .

There's a very good analysis of this "haiku about cold feet" right here, so I won't repeat it :)

WhiteWind歴史館:

He dozed off in an "abaraya" (small resting place comprising of four pillars and a roof (with no walls)) and woke up feeling cold and the moon was shining.

Toshizo's family were wealthy farmers who were considered "Odaijin" (low-ranking official who works for the nobility), and his house was far from being an "abaraya," so I was tempted to pry into his life to find out in which "abaraya" he had slept in.

I think it might have been where he was practicing the Tennen Rishin-ryu, but the setting of the house, with a spring moon hanging outside, made it seem like a "nap" that had a deeper meaning.

Hijikata Toshizo

Original: 朝茶呑てそちこちすれば霞けり

Read all of Hijikata’s haiku poems here: https://shinsengumi-archives.tumblr.com/post/683071924948058112/hijikata-toshizos-haiku-poems

image source: WhiteWind歴史館

fushigi-dono:

The Hijikata family grew green tea in their garden. It must have been delicious...

The illustration on Hoshida Kei's website depicts training in Shieikan on an early spring morning. People used to rise at dawn when there was still fog, then sit down for breakfast and tea, with the dawn haze clearing after everyone had gone about their business. Hoshida Kei writes in a commentary that modern Japanese usually get up later and hardly ever see the morning fog. Well, for many of us, it's a familiar sight :)

WhiteWind歴史館:

I had my morning tea. I was doing this and that It’s getting misty.

People used to be early risers.

They would get up before dawn and get a lot of work done before breakfast. Then they had breakfast, drank tea, and sighed in relief.

After that, while they were doing whatever it was they were doing, the morning haze finally started to dissipate. It was the beginning of a spring day, and he felt as if he might doze off if he sat in the sun.

In the days when there was no electricity, no gas, no running water, and everything had to be done by hand, time must have been used carefully.

Hijikata Toshizo

Original: 我年も花に咲れて尚古し

Read all of Hijikata’s haiku poems here: https://shinsengumi-archives.tumblr.com/post/683071924948058112/hijikata-toshizos-haiku-poems

image source: WhiteWind歴史館

fushigi-dono:

In ancient times, for many Japanese, the word "hana" (flower) meant plum blossoms. Now (and probably in the Bakumatsu era as well) it means cherry blossoms. The sakura blossoms follow the plum blossom, usually in March. In the old lunar calendar, the third month in Japan was called "sakurazuki," that is, "cherry blossom month. It is believed that the sakura represents beauty and flawlessness due to the short duration of its blossoming - it lasts only a few days, and sometimes only a few hours. In popular tradition, this circumstance is associated with the transience of youth and the fleetingness of life, which is reflected in this haiku.

Generally speaking, everyone’s birthday in Japan was celebrated at the same time as the New Year. On the first day of the New Year it was believed that everyone became a year older, and they congratulated each other on it. And the age was counted from the New Year, not from birth. But another year is added to your age in January, in March you already have the feeling that time is running out, the cherry blossoms have already left...

Hoshida Kei also explains: "Wa ga toshi" gives a reference to such a concept as "toshi otoko" (年男) - a person born under the current year’s zodiac sign. The signs of the Oriental zodiac are repeated every 12 years, so this haiku was most likely written in March 1859, the year of the Goat. Hijikata Toshizo was then 25 years old according to the Japanese calendar. You're that age when you start to think, "Gee, the years are passing, and I haven't done anything good yet!”

WhiteWind歴史館:

My age, By the time the cherry blossoms bloom, I’m getting old.

During the New Year's holiday, during the three days of Matsunouchi, each day is as fresh as the first day of the year. The use of the year's name with an incremented number is still very new, and in January, everything around us is called "Hatsu-nan-na-ka," which means "first time" in Japanese.

However, we soon become accustomed to the new year, and the month of February flies by, and before we know it, March is about to end. Before we know it, the cherry blossoms have bloomed without any notice, and he felt as if "this year" has already been used up...or so I think.

I guess "my year" means the year of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, i.e., he’s a "toshi otoko”. If so, this haiku was written when Toshizo was 24 years old.

Hijikata Toshizo

Original: 玉川に鮎つり来るやひかんかな

Read all of Hijikata’s haiku poems here: https://shinsengumi-archives.tumblr.com/post/683071924948058112/hijikata-toshizos-haiku-poems

image source: WhiteWind歴史館

fushigi-dono:

The Higan Festival occurs in spring and fall, and includes three days before the equinox and three days after. Hijikata refers to the spring Higan (March 18 to 24 on the modern calendar), since the collection of poems is composed in the spring. The ayu fish return to the rivers from the seas in the spring, where they spend the entire winter. That is, the fish have arrived, it's time to catch them, but you can't, for crying out loud! Because it is forbidden to kill living creatures and eat their meat during Higan. Toshizo must have forgotten what day it was and went fishing. Then he suddenly remembered, and expressed his emotions about it in a haiku. And there are a lot of emotions! The thing is that "I" and "kana" are strong kireji (i.e. cutting words, Olga Chigirinskaya explained about them here), and as a rule, they aren't used together - it's too much. Besides, both "ayu" and "higan" are seasonal words - "kigo" referring to spring. And in haiku, one kigo is usually enough. It turns out that spring is such a spring! And here all the plan to go fishing has been ruined

On Tama River. Going to catch aiyu... It’s Higan, damn it!

Hijikata loved fishing, by all accounts. Even in March 1868, just before Kondo was arrested in Nagareyama, he would occasionally go fishing alone on the Ayase River, and girls would run there to watch the "handsome samurai" :)

This is what the catch would look like:

And here’s the cooked dish:

And here's another way to cook it: boiled fish with pickled plums (umeboshi)

WhiteWind歴史館:

I caught ayu fish at the Tama River, but it was during Higen - oops!

It was a taboo to catch fish or birds during the Higen Festival, when ancestral offerings are made to the deceased, but perhaps he had forgotten. He must have been in such a hurry that he used two broken characters, "ya" and "kana.

I thought it might have been a little easier to read if he had written "Tamagawa ni ayu tsuri kuru mohigan kanana" (Ayu fishing comes to Tama River on the other side of the river)," and tried to take care of something unnecessary.

It was also along the Tama River that Toshizo, who had returned to Hino after being sent to Edo (present-day Tokyo) to work as an apprentice but did not fit in, collected herbs used to make "Ishida sanyaku," a medicine for bruising and broken bones that had been handed down in his family. While peddling the medicine, he honed his swordsmanship at the dojo of Kondo Isami's Tennen Rishin-ryu.