Inspired by a post at Etsuko's forum

> > ishiyama no ishi yori shiroshi aki no kaze

stone mountain,
I guess this is the place name of a mountain in Northern Japan.?

I remember Ishiyama-dara is also the name of a temple.
http://www.yumotokan.co.jp/kanko/ishiyama.htm

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Or is it this place?
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/yanma46/t-gennjuuann.htm

whiter than the stones of Stone Mountain— the autumn wind ...

On the Stone Mountain, it is whiter than the stones: autumnal
wind. (© Makoto Ueda)

.. .. ..

Here is a great discussion about this poem

I quote part of it. Original is here:
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kohl/basho/37-natadera/discussion.html

THE POEM: Ishiyama no... (Whiter far).
The season word is aki no kaze which indicates autumn. There have
been many interpretations of this poem, but they fall into three
groups.
1) Ishiyama is used here as a place name referring to Ishiyama in Omi
(Shiga Prefecture).
2) That it refers to the stone mountain of Nata that was there before
Basho's eyes.
3) That the adjective shiroshi, white, refers both to Ishiyama and to
the autumn wind.

The first interpretation is found in many of the older commentaries
on the text and even today some commentators follow this lead. The
basic points of this interpretation are that a) at that time Ishiyama
referred to the temple in Omi and it was not a way of referring to
Natadera. b) A Komatsu poet named Yuichi published a work titled
Jishozan Hanami no Ki in 1708 in which he writes, "Regarding the
scenery on this mountain, the stones are whiter than the stones of
Ishiyama, some are shaped like cows and some are shaped like Buddhas
and there are many caverns and grottoes."

Other poets who were also contemporary with Basho have also
interpreted Ishiyama to refer to the place in Omi and consider that
it is being compared to Natadera. It is quite reasonable to suppose
that Basho looked at Natayama and was reminded of Ishiyama in Omi. In
that case the meaning of the poem is that the stones of Nata give the
impression of being whiter still than the stones of Ishiyama. Over
these white stones blows the autumn wind.

The second interpretation is that Ishiyama refers to the stone
mountain the poet sees here at Nata. The reasons behind this
interpretation are a) It would be impossible for the stones of Nata
to be characterized by the adjective shiroshi, so we have to see aki
no kaze as the noun being defined by the adjective.

According to the Erh Ya, one of the earliest Chinese dictionaries,
green is the color of spring, red is the color of summer, white is
the color of autumn, and black is the color of winter. The spirit of
autumn is clear and white. Thus, the autumn wind is characterized as
a white wind that is the message of this poem.

c) The first interpretation which says only that the stones of Nata
are whiter than the stones of Ishiyama sees the poem as a descriptive
statement that is lacking in poetic feeling. Consequently we should
read the poem to mean that while the stones of Nata give a white
impression, the autumn wind blowing over the stones is whiter still.

Yet to say that the autumn wind is whiter still, is also a merely
descriptive statement, we simply have three levels of perception -
the stones in Omi are white, the stones at Nata are whiter, the
autumn wind is whitest of all.

The third interpretation is a combination of the first two; it joins
together the ideas that the stones of Nata are whiter than the stones
of Omi with the idea that the autumn wind is whiter even than the
stones of Nata. In this version shiroshi modifies both nouns.

The meaning of the poem is that the stones of Nata are whiter than
the stones of Ishiyama in Omi and the autumn wind is whiter still
than the stones of Nata.

Some argue that if shiroshi were to modify both Ishiyama no ishi and
aki no kaze, it should be shiroki. By using Shiroshi, the two nouns
are not contrasted or compared, but made sequential. The poem divides
itself into two parts; Ishiyama no ishi yori shiroshi' makes a
comparison with Nata no ishi which is implied. In the second half of
the poem, aki no kaze is what blows over the white stones.

Rather than comparing or contrasting the colors of whiteness [which
has no color], the poem takes the quality of whiteness found in the
stones and in the wind, and blends them together. The dynamic here is
toward unity, not contrast. The stones are white and the wind is
white too.

We end up with this:
Basho came to see the sights at Natadera and found the rocks bleached
white giving him a feeling that they must be whiter even than the
stones of Ishiyama. He notices, too, that the autumn wind is blowing
over the rocks. The autumn wind is said to be a white wind and it
does indeed create a mood of whiteness which expresses the desolation
of the autumn wind. The restless wind is in contrast to the
immoveable stones.

On reading Basho's text we get the impression that he stopped at
Natadera on his way from Komatsu to Yamanaka Hot Springs, but that is
not the case. According to Sora's diary they set out from Komatsu on
7.27 and arrived at Yamanaka that evening. They stayed there through
8.4. Then on 8.5 they set out to go back to Komatsu and on the way
Basho and Kitaeda visited Natadera. Apparently they planned to meet
Ikoma Mambei in Komatsu on 8.6. Consequently he parted from Sora at
Yamanaka.

In his diary for 8.5 Sora writes, "Cloudy in the morning. Around noon
the master and Kitaeda went to Nata. The following day they went to
Komatsu and met Ikoma Manji.... Went to Daishoji and arrived at
Zenshoji in the evening. Rain during the night."

From this we can see that Sora went to Daishoji and spent the night
at the Zenshoji Temple. Basho, meanwhile, had headed back the other
way and is thought to have spent the night at Komatsu. Thus, when
Basho says Mount Shirane disappeared behind him, he may have been
recalling this part of the journey. Basho's rearrangement of the
sequence surely has to do with his sense of emphasis and association.

Nata has many weird stone shapes and impressive scenery and it is
also rich in historical connections, so Basho was evidently quite
taken with it. Probably it made the same sort of impression on him we
find on his visits to Unganji and Ryushakuji.

Basho compares Yamanaka favorably with Ariake Hot Springs which is
probably an error for Arima Hot Springs on the NW slope of Mt. Rokko.
Sora writes Arima in his diary.

Kumenosuke (1676-1751) was the young master of the Izumiya, an inn at
Yamanaka. Kumenosuke was a childhood name and he was later known as
Matahei. His family name was Hasebe. Basho gave him the poetry name
of Toyo. He died in 1751 at the age of 76.

He was 14 when Basho visited. His father had died when he was four
and he inherited the Izumiya at that time. He had an uncle who was
also a haiku poet and Kumenosuke followed that example. Izumiya was
one of 12 inns at Yamanaka and it continued to operate until the
Meiji period. Kumenosuke took advantage of Basho's visit to become a
disciple and receive a poetic name. He went on to become a prominent
poet. His father was also called Matahei and he was a poet of the
Teishitsu School. Sora says it was Kumenosuke's grandfather who was
also a poet and he is probably right.

Teishitsu's (1610-73) name was Yasuhara Masaakira. He was a paper
merchant in Kyoto and from very early on he had been a disciple of
Teitoku. He was loved for his genius, but his ambition and proud
insolence often resulted in conflict and hard feelings. He compiled
several collections of poetry. He died in 1673 at the age of 64.

His name appears from time to time in Basho's various travel diaries
and poetry collections. He was appreciated by members of the Basho
school. It is not clear whether the episode Basho relates here
actually happened or not.

Nevertheless, the dates would be right for Kumenosuke's grandfather
and Sora also recounts this story so at least it was a story that had
much currency at Yamanaka at that time.

Teitoku (1571-1653) is a reference to Matsunaga Teitoku. He had
studied all branches of poetry under a variety of masters and
eventually devoted himself to the art of haikai. He was the founder
of the Teimon School of haikai. He died in 1653 at the age of 83.

quoted from here, read more
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kohl/basho/37-natadera/discussion.html

................

We also have the cool autumn wind here now in the evening, around 5
it gets cool.

gokuraku no kaze yori amaku
aki no kaze

sweeter than
the wind from Paradise <>
autumn wind

Gabi

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> > Stone mountain
> > autumn wind whiter
> > than the stones

> > by Basho
> >
> >
> > Ishiyama no ishi yori shiroshi aki no kaze
> >
Etsuko has more here
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cherrypoetryclub/message/25057

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