Sitting in the temple chamber with the blinds raised, we saw the whole lagoon, Mount Chokai holding up the heavens inverted on the water. To the west the road leads to the Muyamuya Baarrier; to the east it cuarves along a bank toward Akita; to the north, the […]
After all the breathtaking views of rivers and mountains, lands and seas, after everything we’d seen, thoughts of seeing Kisakata’s famous bay still made my heart begin to race. Twenty miles north of Sakata Harbor, as we walked the sandy shore beneath mountains where sea winds wander, a […]
After leaving Haguro, we came to the castle town of Tsuru-ga-oka…and were greated by the samurai Nagayama Shigeyuki. We composed a round of haiku, bid farewell, and started by boat down the Mogami, bound for Sakata Harbor… From Hot Sea Mountain southward to Windy Beach the evening cools […]
On the eigth we climbed Moon Mountain, wearing the holy paper necklaces and cotton hats of Shinto priests, following behind a mountain monk whose footsteps passed through mist and clouds and snow and ice, climbing miles higher as though drawn by invisible spirits into the gateway of the […]
Climbed Mount Haguro on the third day of the sixth moon and, with the help of a friend who dyes cloth for mountain monks’ robes, Zushi Sakichi, obtained an audience with the Abbot of Gongen Shrine, Master Egaku, who greeted us warmly…The next day we met at the […]
Husband, Father, Writer, Teacher. American Haijin. Because Haikai matters!
Frank J. Tassone 