Haiku

Once the frigid breezes of late autumn sweep in from the north, Japan's countless momiji (maple trees) are painted a spectrum of vibrant colours. That's the best time to go hiking.

Tōkoho region offers one of the best viewing spots during momiji season. Among them, Oirase Gorge is an attractive site, which we'd visited twenty years ago. We chose Naruko Gorge this time. We didn't aim for too many different places in our itinerary, mainly because days are getting shorter in the autumn. Better to be flexible and sensible than pledge to visit too many places before sunset - we're talking about somewhere before five.

One of our favourite places at Naruko Gorge is a quiet country path near the gorge. We were so flexible with our schedule to be walking the same path twice within the same afternoon. That's a path walked by the 17th-century "father" of haiku poetry, Matsuo Bashō. Many great haiku poets, like Bashō, were hikers with keen traveller's keen eye. A hallmark of Bashō's haiku is capturing the "just-so-ness" of each object. To retrace his footsteps, we walked once. 

And twice.