COVER STORY
An Old Woman And I Discovering faith in uncommon places
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HERE WAS A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY POET FROM JAPAN NAMED Matsuo Basho who wrote a short sketch called “A Visit To Sarashina Village”, which begins by saying: “The autumn wind inspired my heart with a desire to see the rise of the full moon over Mount Ubasute. That rugged mountain in the village of Sarashina is where villagers used to abandon their aging mothers among the desolate rocks.” By Cody Maxwell Pulse contributor
The name of the mountain, Ubasute, means “abandoning an old woman”. Sarashina villagers would take old or sick family members to Mount Ubasute and leave them there to die. Those burdens, in the old world, could not be carried. This vaguely brings to mind the seem-
ingly inexplicable words of the western world’s Jesus of Nazareth: “If any man comes to me, and leaves not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” In Japanese poetry from Basho’s time, the full autumn moon was often associated with this practice of “abandoning an old woman”. Basho, now accompanied by a servant in his
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tale, continues: “The Kiso road that led to the village was steep and dangerous, passing over a number of high mountains. We did our best to help one another, but since neither of us were experienced travelers, we felt uneasy and made mistakes, doing the wrong things at the wrong times. Above our heads, mountains rose over mountains, and on our left a huge precipice dropped into a boiling river, so that, perched on my horse’s high saddle, I felt tricken with terror. “We passed through many dangerous places, the road always winding and climbing, so that we often felt we were groping our way in the clouds. I abandoned my horse and went on my legs, for I was dizzy with the height
