Basho and Sora in front of the Tagajo Stele from "The Life of the Venerable Basho in Pictures and Words" by Chomu, with original illustrations by Kano Shoei.
In Genroku 2 (1689), Basho and Sora visited the Tagajo Stele during their "Narrow Road to the Deep North" journey.
Today, Basho was moved to tears, believing the ancient stele known as the Tagajo Stele to be the “Tsubo no Ishibumi” (Jar Stele) of poetic fame (utamakura).
This is a biography of Basho compiled by the mid-Edo period haiku poet Chomu to commemorate Basho's 100th death anniversary. Chomu was a native of Kyoto and a Jodo-shu monk. Although he was born nearly 40 years after Basho's death and never met Basho in person, he held yearly memorial services for Basho at Gichuji Temple, where Basho's grave is located, and traveled throughout various provinces to publicly honor Basho and promote recognition of his achievements.
Although this material was published, the original emakimono (picture scroll) from which it was derived is preserved at Gichuji Temple.
Basho-o ekotoba den (The Life of the Venerable Basho in Pictures and Words), 1 volume
Chomu, author
In this work, the mid-Edo-period haiku poet Chomu, a priest of the Jodo-shu Buddhist sect who hailed from Kyoto, depicts Basho’s life story to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his death. Born nearly 40 years after Basho’s death, Chomu never met the haiku master in person, but he conducted yearly memorial rites for Basho at Gichuji Temple, where Basho’s grave is located, and he traveled throughout the provinces to publicly honor Basho and promote recognition of his achievements.
The published work shown here was based upon an emakimono (picture scroll) which can be found at Gichuji Temple.