Courtesans and Bush Clover

Courtesans and Clover

There is a famous #haiku by #basho which is part of his most famous #haibun Oku no hosomichi - about his pilgrimage to the #Dewa regions and back again. It is often quoted out of context.

Hitotsu ya ni / yuujo mo netari / hagi to tsuki

one inn at courtesans even sleeping bush clover and moon

 lets turn that into something more poetic in English without changing the Japanese too much

Under one roof
Even the courtesans were still sleeping
Hagi and Bush Clover

Many commentators and translators take that as saying even the courtesans were still asleep although Basho was up or had gotten up looking at the Moonlight on Hagi bushes however some aspects of this scene they don't mention.

Perhaps this is pointed out in one of the many Japanese commentaries?

In the haibun this haiku comes at the end of a section in which Basho states he was in an inn near the Ichifuri Barrier on the main road to Kanazawa. He writes of trying to sleep and hearing 2 young women talking loudly in a front room along with an old man. Their conversation revealed they were yuujo - sexworkers from Niigata but Basho is not specific about their actual rank and if they were Oiran or Tayu. The women were talking about being on their way to visit the Shrine at Ise on the other side of the Island.

Although they talked about visiting Ise the next day they approached Basho who was dressed like a Buddhist priest for assistance.

Understandable that two women would seek company and protection on the main road but why were they not part of a pilgrim group or have a hired guard? Did pilgrim groups from Niigata refuse to accept sex workers? Had the women only recently bought out their contracts and been released from a brothel? Had they run away stealing some other women's travel documents? Were they taking the long journey to Ise hoping to find a nunnery as far away from their old lives as possible? The road from Niigata to Ise would have gone past many temples and shrines?

Or was Basho worried they had heard he was a famous poet and hoped to get money off him and were running a scam?

If they were former Oiran of high rank and skills they might have stayed awake to view the moon light on the bush clover or tried to use their knowledge of poetry to impress Basho?

Another possibility perhaps they were actually named Hagi and Tsuki ?

He did however advise them to wait for a larger group of travellers and proceed with them.

Perhaps a good idea as an elderly poet and his companion Sora might not have been much protection against bandits ?

If you are a student of Basho and Haiku do try to finish a copy of the whole haibun?