Visiting Shiki’s House

Visiting Shiki’s House

by Susumu Takiguchi



Uguisu-dani is a small station on the Yamanote Railway Line, five stops and due north from Tokyo Station. On the map, it looks drowned by the hurly-burly of the Ueno sprawl, which is the centre of that part of the gigantic metropolis. Tokyo is on flat land. There are, however, hillocks and hammocks here and there of which Ueno is one.

suzume yori uguisu ooki Negishi kana (Shiki, 1893, Meiji 26)

more bush warblers
than sparrows are here –
Ah, Negishi! (version by ST)

When Shiki came to live around here on 1 February 1894 (Meiji 27), it was referred to as Ueno-no-Mori (Ueno Woods) and Uguisu-dani, which means the dale of bush warblers, was still relatively a quiet part of the rapidly expanding capital. In addition to the warblers, the area was famous for its plum blossom and black bamboo. What an apt name for a place where the poet was to live his last eight and a half years! His house was situated in the district called Negishi, which according to a local elder was so named by the combination of “ne” (at the foot of Ueno Woods ) and “gishi” (shore, the sea used to come as far as here). It was also a district where literary figures and artists used to live, famous Sakai Hoitsu being a renowned resident.

Fushi nagara amado akesase asahi teru Ueno no mori no hare wo yorokobu (Shiki, tanka)

lying in my sickbed
I had the rain shutters opened,
the morning sun pouring over
the Ueno Woods, and I rejoice
at the fine day (version by ST)

No. 82 Kami-Negishi was the address of the Shiki-an (Shiki Hut), which housed the bed-ridden genius, his mother and sister and was frequented by his friends and followers. He had lived for two years in No. 89 of the same Kami-Negishi. Having been a “semi-detached” house of lower-grade samurai of the Maeda Han (clan), his new house was a relatively big one by the standards of the time. The size of the whole place was 55 tsubo (1 tsubo=6 “shaku” square) of which more than half was garden (according to Hekigodo, the house measured 24 tsubo). Shiki paid a rent of 6 yen and 50 sen per month. According to his “Gyoga Manroku” (Stray Notes While Lying On My Back), the entry on 30 September 1901 (Meiji 34) says that his income was 50 yen (40 yen from the Nihon Newspaper Company and 10 yen from Hototogisu) per month. It also records the breakdown of September’s household expenses including the rent, which amounted to 32 yen 72 sen, resulting in 17 yen 28 sen in the black (saving). To see roughly how much one yen was worth, the expenses include one month’s milk costing just over 1 yen 48 sen, grocery 3 yen 73 sen and a bit, charcoal 1 yen 11 sen, soy sauce, miso paste and vinegar 1 yen 52 sen, and interestingly fish 6 yen 15 sen (of which bought sashimi was 15 to 29 sen per plate).

kogarashi ya toro ni imo wo yaku ya-han (Shiki, 1900, Meiji 33)

withering winter wind!
On the oil stove, I roast
a sweet potato at midnight (version by ST)

One rainy autumn day in 2001, I got off the Yamate Line and stood still for a while on the platform of Uguisu-dani, trying to imagine what it must have been like for visitors of Shiki-an to walk the last few hundred yards from here to get to it. I was quietly excited. Shiki-an is normally closed to the general public, except for its garden. However, being the year of one hundredth anniversary of his death (according to the Japanese reckoning) it was open to the public as part of its celebrations. Also, the restoration work on the house and garden was completed in February this year. Five minutes later, I found myself standing in front of the gate which led to what to me had become the final destination of my pilgrimage.

Shiki-an ni tsukeba furi-somu shigure kana (Susumu Takiguchi, hereinafter ST)

just as I arrived
at Shiki-an, autumn rain
started to fall, ah!

Inside, I could not quite believe that I was actually in the 8-jo drawing room, looking over at the 6-jo room in which Shiki died. The original house that Shiki lived in suffered two disasters, first it was partially though not seriously destroyed by the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 and then was burnt down by the American air raid at dawn of 14 April 1945. The present house was rebuilt five years later, mainly through the effort of Shiki’s friend Samukawa Sokotsu (1875-1954). Even so, the house did have the atmosphere and even the smell of the old house, which to me is very familiar from my own experience of living in my grandparents’ house which was similarly built. I restrained my strong urge to want to look at everything quickly, as I knew that such a rush would spoil the purpose of my visit – to pay tribute to Shiki. To that end, I deliberately started to look at what seemed unimportant.

nure-en ni uchi-sute-rareshi hechima kana (ST)

on the wet veranda
I see a few snake gourds
abandoned


My guide was not a person but a plan of the house which Kawahigashi Hekigodo, a principal follower of Shiki, drew and also the memory in my head of Shiki’s life about which I had read over many years. Hekigodo’s plan shows the snake gourd pergola, the very first thing I had wanted to see. And there it was, just outside of Shiki’s room facing south, I saw a pergola and about a dozen snake gourds of various colours dangling, with unmistakable yellow flowers displaying themselves here and there. The three death poems by Shiki, all about snake gourds, were etched in my memory. Shiki loved different flowers and plants but from where he must have been lying, I guessed, all he could see were these snake gourds and flowers.

hechima suku hito netari-keru tatami kana (ST)

the man used to lie here,
who loved snake gourds –
now only tatami mats

Shiki-an, where the house master was bed-ridden for seven of his last eight and a half years, was cold during winter. There were only primitive “hibachi” (braziers) for the family to get warm. Whenever Shiki wanted to see the garden, the shoji sliding doors had to be opened, letting in cold air. Followers of Shiki, who were constantly visiting Shiki-an, got very worried about this situation. One of them, Takahama Kyoshi, finally suggested that they should have the shoji doors glazed for their master. In early December of 1999 Shiki was presented with glazed shoji, which became his version of French windows. First and foremost, the glass shoji let in the winter sun, bringing in its warmth and light. From Shiki’s point of view, he could now see the garden without opening shoji.

garasu-goshi ni fuyu no hi ataru byo-ma kana (Shiki, 1999, Meiji 32)

through the glass
winter sun streams into
this sick-room! (version by ST)

Shiki was overjoyed. He could now see his withered garden, the bird cage, pine trees, birds, clothes-rod and the hill of Ueno beyond, without moving an inch. He could also sun-bathe now, even in winter. His remarks of joy are recorded in various documents: “… I am in fabulous mood as I myself clean the glass…” (his letter to Kyoshi dated 11 December 1999) ; “… I became quite cheerful so much so that I sat upright and saw things [through the glass shoji]. While I did so I forgot I was ill…” (Shin-nen Zakki) In addition to the glazed shoji, the Hototogisu magazine paid to buy an oil stove for Shiki and Ito Sachio helped to install a coal stove with a chimney attached.

sanjaku no niwa ni ueno no ochiba kana (Shiki)

In three feet of garden,
The falling leaves
Of ueno. (tr. R. H. Blyth, p. 1089, Haiku, vol. 4)

With silent rain falling, autumn light was soft on the tatami mats of Shiki’s sick-room. I wondered in which way his futon was arranged. The Japanese people never sleep with their head pointing to the north because that is how the dead person is placed (called “kita-makura”, or north pillow). If he slept like that, it would have also meant that his head was in the nearest point to the adjacent four-and-a-half jo small room which belonged to Ritsu, his sister. The Japanese etiquette requires that no one is allowed to walk about anywhere near the sleeping person’s head. I realised that this sleuth work could be a long haul as I was beginning to be obsessive about this probably insignificant detail. So, I went to the “kawaya” (an old-fashioned loo) to spend a penny.

Shiki-an no kawaya ni tachi-te shigure kiku (ST)

standing still
in the Shiki-an pissoir, I hear
the sound of autumn rain

Back to the drawing room, my mind was still on the question of in what direction Shiki was lying. After all, his futon bed was his whole world as he could not leave it on his own. From 1901, Shiki wrote, read, conversed, ate, met visitors, viewed the garden, painted, cried, laughed, writhed in agony, shouted, swore, got medication and treatment, urinated, went to the loo and slept, all within this “byosho rokushaku” (The Six-foot Sickbed). The most obvious way would be for Shiki to sleep with his head nearest to the garden, which was due south. However, in this case he could not have seen the garden without sitting up, or lying on his stomach and raising his head in a recumbent position, which was for him a physical impossibility. So, my conclusion was that he must have been sleeping with his head away from the garden, i.e. to the north and Ritsu’s room. He would not have slept east to west, or west to east because that was the shorter sides of the rectangular room and it would have left no room for Ritsu or Yae, his mother, or anyone else for that matter to walk without striding over him. Imagining myself to be Shiki in bed: -

ashi-oto to akikaze no oto kiku mi kana (ST)

the sound of footsteps
and the sound of autumn wind,
both reach my ears

One of the rare photos of Shiki during his “sick-bed” period (taken on 19 June 1899, Meiji 32) with Shiki sitting on the “rohka” (narrow veranda) of the drawing room shows his “sick-room” on the right hand side. We can just see his “shiki-buton” (mat bed) and a summer “kake-buton” (bedding) on the tatami. There is no “makura” (pillow) where it usually should be, which may indicate that the bit we see is the lower end of his futon, i.e. his head should be on the other end, but this observation is not conclusive. Another photo of him half sitting up in the futon (taken on 5 April 1900, Meiji 33) gives us more clue. If he was in his 6-jo “sick-room”, then he was certainly lying with his head to the north, judging from the position of the four “fusuma” sliding doors and the straw cape and a sedge hat which were hung on the pillow in the middle of the “fusuma”. There is another photo of the “sick-room” itself, which attests my conclusion. When I was satisfied with my speculation about how Shiki was lying in this small room, my imagination started to wander around the now empty room, positioning his writing desk, the square “hibachi” (brazier), sedge hat, flower vase, inkwell and bookcase. (A special exhibition showing these items had been over) As I contemplated, the light seemed to have become a shade darker.

(Note) There is an illustration by Asai Chu for Shiki’s essay entitled “Rampu no Kage” (The Lamp’s Shadow) which appeared in the Hototogisu, vol. 3, issue 4. It depicts nine visitors in the drawing room with Shiki in bed looking at them from his “sick-room” and he is lying with his head to the north.

Shiki-an ya arishi hi omou aki no hi ni (ST)

in the feeble autumn light
I imagine his futon and writing desk –
at Shiki-an

The room in which I was transported to such reverie was the largest in the house and all of Shiki’s visitors were taken there. Visitors – what visitors? It looked as if most of the glittering literary figures in Tokyo at that time frequented there – Meisetsu, Ogai, Soseki, Fusetsu, Chu, Kyoshi, Hekigodo, Sachio, Takashi, Tekkan, Fumoto, Toson, Yaichi, Setsurei, Shihoda, Koroku, Rogetsu, Kakudo, Sokotsu, Izan, Hozuma etc. The list is endlessly long. The main meetings were kukai (for haiku), utakai (for tanka) and yama-kai (for prose-writing) and a number of study meetings of which “rin-ko” (an appointed person did the report which the meeting discussed) on “Man-yo-shu” (The Ten Thousand Leaves anthology) and on Buson was much valued.

byo-sho wo kakomu reisha ya go-roku nin (Shiki, 1900, Meiji 33)

surrounding my sick-bed,
New Year’s Day visitors are sitting –
five or six at a time (version by ST)

On 24 December 1899 (Meiji 32) the Third Buson-Ki Meeting (anniversary of Buson’s death) was held at Shiki-an. There were as many as 45 participants (as compared with 20 in the First Meeting of 1897, Meiji 30, and 22 in the Second Meeting of 1898, Meiji 31) flocking together in this small house from the morning till well after 9 o’clock at night. Shiki had written the famous series of articles Haijin Buson (Haiku Poet Buson) for the Nihon newspaper. The series started in April 1897 (Meiji 30) and was later published as a book in December 1899 (Meiji 32). Also, Shiki was holding study meetings on Buson which he started a year previously. Shiki was heartened that his campaign to endorse Buson was going well. A commemorative photograph was taken with Shiki in the middle of the front row. He was carried by Hekigodo who later recalled how light Shiki was and wrote that it was like “carrying an empty wastepaper basket”. It has become something of customary to provide “furofuki” dish at Buson-ki. This is a popular food in winter of pieces of daikon radish and/or kabu radish, which is boiled and eaten with miso and sesame sauce. It proved to be quite a job to feed 45 people with “furofuki”.

furofuki no hito-kire zuzu ya shi-ju nin (Shiki, 1899, Meiji 32)

furofuki dish --
only one piece each
for forty guests

Thinking about all these things, I did not know how this drawing room, which is small by Western standards, could accommodate so many visitors. Granted the Japanese were much smaller and leaner in those days, I still felt it was like a miracle that this house was the hub of one of the most important literary activities and reform movements in the late Meiji Japan. Tuberculosis, which Shiki was suffering from, was one of the greatest killers and highly infectious. Even so, people were not deterred. Towards the end, Shiki was not always a nice and polite host because of his rapidly deteriorating condition. All the belongings of Shiki have been removed from the house to different museums (quite a few of them were displayed in the Centenary Commemoration Exhibitions at the Shiki Museum in Matsuyama and the Basho Museum in Yamadera) Therefore, the drawing room I was in was empty. So were all other rooms. The total emptiness of Shiki-an had, however, an unexpected effect on me: instead of looking at these exhibits which would give one a flavour of Shiki’s daily life, I could see in the very emptiness all sorts of Shiki’s objects, writings, letters, drawings and diaries and a lot more simply by the power of imagination.

kiku no ka ya ku-shitsu ni Shiki yomigaeru (ST)

chrysanthemum perfume –
Shiki’s daily life revisited,
these empty rooms

From the empty drawing room, I stepped down into the garden. It was far from empty. All sorts of flowers, plants, bushes and trees were vying with each other for space and light. An old photograph of the house indicates that the garden was much more sparse than it is now. I did not have the time or inclination to check which ones were original and which were the ones planted after Shiki’s death. They have all been planted according to the painstaking estimate of how the garden must have been in Shiki’s time by examining his haiku, tanka and all other writings. I thought it was a wonderful tribute to Shiki who loved the garden so much but could not attend to it himself. Among these numerous items, certain plants and flowers were more noticeable: cockscombs, snake gourd flowers, persimmon tree, hagi (bush clover), oshiroibana (marvel of Peru or Mirabilis jalapa), nogiku (wild camomile), peonies, sekichiku (pink) and Shudaido (begonia).

toburai no hana ooku shite Shiki no niwa (ST)

many flowers in bloom
in memorium of Shiki --
his own garden

I looked from the garden at what was Shiki’s “sick-room”. Then, I shivered. I did so partly because the air was getting cold, penetrating all the warm clothing I brought from England, but mainly because I suddenly thought I saw a pathetic prisoner within the six-foot futon bed laid on the small 6-jo tatami room, confined there for the greater part of eight and half years of his taking residence at this magic address. “Byosho Rokushaku” (The Six-foot Sickbed) was serialised from 5 May 1902 (Meiji 35), his last year in this world, and went on appearing until two days before his death, i.e. 17 September, all 127 instalments. It was a six-foot sickbed prison. However, what a prison it was! It was a prison where Shiki gained maximum freedom – freedom of creation, freedom of innovation and freedom to realise himself. What, then, are we doing, being given the maximum physical freedom as well as far greater spiritual and poetic freedom than we deserve, except for the restrictions to freedom which we impose upon ourselves and yet blame others for doing so, by way of creating even a single haiku, or of saying even a single remark, which is worthy of Shiki’s phlegm, cantankerous outbursts or pus? I shivered because of my inadequacies. And I shivered because of human arrogance, ignorance, fanaticism, prejudices, exploitation and aggression, all of which can sadly be seen in the haiku world as well as in more obvious worlds.

aki fukashi Shiki no kuraku ya shimi-tooru (ST)

Shiki’s mourn of pain
and cry of joy, all permeate
deepening autumn

[End]