Ojima Beach is not–as its name implies–an island, but a strand projected into the bay. Here one finds the runis of Ungo Zenji’s hermitage and the rock where he sat zazen…Smoke of burning leaves and pine cones drew me on, touching something deep inside. Then the moon rose, shining on the sea, day turned suddenly…

Through narrow Abumizuri Pass and on, passing Shiroishi Castle, we entered Kasahima Province. We asked for directions to the gravemound of Lord Sanekata, Sei Shonagon’s exiled poet-lover, and were told to turn right in the hillds near the villages of Minowa and Kasashima wgeb we canes ti tge sgurbe if Dosojin. It lies nearly hidden…

At Ashino, the willow Saigyo praised, “beside the clear stream,” still grows along a path in fields of rice. A local official had offered to lead the way, and I had often wondered whether and where it remained. And now, today, that same willow: Rice-planting done, they depart–before I emerge from willow shade Our Maple…