338 Years Ago Today

Ishikawa Jozan died on May 23, 1672 at Shisendo. For this reason, Shisendo is closed to the public on this day every year so that an elaborate Buddhist memorial service can be conducted. An outdoor altar is erected, the grounds are covered with rugs, and a tarp protects the priests from sun and rain.

I have tasted every pleasure of mist and sunset 

in these ten-years-short-a-hundred.

From Ishikawa's last recorded poem, Leaning on a Cane, Singing. Translated by Burton Watson.

Travis Belrose is the author of The Samurai Poet, a work of historical fiction based on the life of Ishikawa Jozan. Learn more here.