ABSTRACT

In the late seventeenth century, poet Basho Matsuo made a long journey in Tohoku, in northern Japan. In Hiraizumi, he recollected the story of a battle in the twelfth century in which a well-known leader of a fighting group, Yoshitsune Minamoto, was defeated after a gory battle. The scene must have been dreadful in the twelfth century, with dead bodies scattered on the ground, but after 500 years Basho saw only weeds growing peacefully in summertime. The battle appeared to be only a dream.