Saigyo went to Tohoku

Saigyo's android making,
the book from the 17th century

Saigyo lived in the 12^th century. He was an itinerant Buddhist monk who expressed his thought on life and passion toward natural beauty in the form of poetry. His way of life enchanted many, including highly-respected poets Sogi and Basho. Countless legends about him are left in a number of places in the country, many of which are funny and unusual. This must suggest that he was not only revered by the literati but loved and embraced by commoners.

Born Satō Norikiyo in Kyoto to a wealthy family of the samurai class, he lived during the traumatic transition of power between the old court nobles and the new samurai warriors. After the start of the Age of Mappo or the demise of law in 1052, Buddhism was considered to be in decline and no longer as effective a means of salvation. Only Amida’s mercy would save you. The Buddha would take all those who have faith to the Western Pure Land.

As a youth, he worked as a guard to retired Emperor Toba, but in 1140 at age 23, for reasons now unknown, he quit worldly life to become a monk. One of the names he later took was "Saigyō" meaning Western Journey, which would remind you of Amida Buddha and the Western paradise.

Being an itinerant monk, he took long, poetic journeys to various scenic places of the country including Tohoku that would later inspire Basho in his Narrow Road to the North, a journal of his travel to Tohoku. 

Saigyo died in Hirokawa Temple in Kawachi Province (present-day Osaka Prefecture) at age 73. He ended his life like his poem:

Let me die in spring under the blossoming cherry trees, let it be around that full moon of Kisaragi month.

Local legends have it that he met someone like an old woman or a child at a boundary-like point and was made ashamed of his ignorance and turned back. This intelligent monk turned back quite a lot of times!

On his way to Matsushima (Sendai, Miyagi Pref., Tohoku), he was feeling proud of the poem he had just composed. Then a child, avatar of Sanno God, came with a sickle and made a remarkable poem. Saigyo wondered who he was and asked what he did for living. The boy answered “he leaps what sprouts in winter and withers in summer.” Saigyo didn’t have a clue what this meant, then the boy said “you would reveal your ignorance in the holy land Matsushima where people are intelligent.” Ashamed, Saigyo turned back.

The most unusual anecdote about him must be the one that claims Saigyo, feeling lonely after his friend left for Kyoto, made a defective android in Koyasan. He didn’t know what to do and abandoned it deep in the mountains.

Androids were being made in the 12^th century Japan!