바쇼의 하이카이 기행에 나타난 ‘고향’에 관한 고찰

Abstract

Unusually, what image could ever capture the hometown is repetitively portrayed by Basho in the works created during his several homecomings. The first homecoming, ever since his leaving for Edo, fills Basho with excitement, delight in reunion, relief of returning home, and gratitude to old acquaintances. Non-local experiences afford Basho a better understanding of the place, where he was born and grew up. The homeland could then give Basho a true sense of security and warmth. A decade later, Basho’s second homecoming triggers far more complicated feelings: a great sense of loss in his departed mother, senescence of the brothers, inescapable passage of time. The hometown, however, becomes somewhere brimming with serenity and benevolence, when Basho rings in the New Year once again in the homeland. The mountain village meanwhile embraces him with special tenderness, which Edo the metropolis fails to give. In the third homecoming, the hometown turns into a space for Basho to taste the bitter affection for his departed mother, and pity for the senescent bothers. As such, since his mother passed away, the place has been a miserable and affectionate space deep inside Basho. Basho stops by the hometown for the fourth time after his journey to Okunohosomichi. A tender perspective on the land comes to life. Still, the appreciation for friends’ hospitality and the land’s warmth are described in his works, thereby vitalizing the hometown’s original image as an affectionate land. The last time is on Basho’s way to Kamigata. While visiting their ancestral graves, he could not help sympathize with the aging brothers around, who now walk with wane and white hair. In this manner, Basho’s hometown, Iga Ueno, is a space mixed with various sentiments for the parents, brothers, and acquaintances: delight in reunion, coziness and affectionateness, comfort and attachment. In particular, since Basho’s mother passes away, the land has been recited as a place to reminisce, and to take pity on brothers’ lost youth. On the other side, Basho expresses straightforward gratitude in return for the cordiality of hometown friends in his works.