Wonderful bike & train tour in Fukushima 福島大好きおじさんの自転車・鉄道旅日記 Following Basho’s track in Koriyama and Nihonmatsu, May 21, 2017 （芭蕉の郡山と二本松路を追って２０１７年５月２１日）

Following Basho’s track in Koriyama and Nihonmatsu, May 21, 2017 （芭蕉の郡山と二本松路を追って２０１７年５月２１日）

After leaving Sukagawa, Basho’s first destination was Otsujigataki Falls of the Abukuma River. The waterfall was located on the border of today’s Sukagawa City and Tamakawa Village and the view as of today looked as shown above. Seeing the waterfall, Basho created a Haiku poem which said “Samidareno Takifuriuzumu Mizukasakana”, which meant the waterfall was abundant of water with seasonal rain in June.
須賀川を立ち、芭蕉の最初の目的地は、阿武隈川の乙字ヶ滝でした。滝は、今の須賀川市と玉川村の境界にあり、写真は今日の姿です。滝を見て、芭蕉は「五月雨の　滝降りうづむ　水かさ哉」の句をつくりました。梅雨の時期で、水量が多かったようです。

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Then Basho and Sora traveled along the old Oshu Highway to Koriyama. On the way, they stopped at Tamura Shrine, which was located in the southern Tamura district of the city. The shrine looked as shown above today and a board in the precinct told us about his visit here in 1689.
そのあと、芭蕉と曽良は、旧奥州街道沿いに、郡山に向かいました。途中、今の郡山市田村町にある、田村神社に参拝しました。写真は、本日の田村神社と、芭蕉が１６８９年に訪れた説明板です。

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They continued their journey northward and arrived at Hiwada district of Koriyama. They visited Asakayama which was a small hill along Oshu Highway. The name was famous as it had appeared a number of times in Tanka and Haiku poems. Basho was looking for small iris flowers, which was called Hanakatsumi in Japanese or its academic name was “Iris gracilipes”. This was explained in a board above.
更に北に進み、今の郡山市の日和田地区に到着します。ここで、旧奥州街道沿いにある、安積山（現安積山公園）を訪ねます。安積山は、昔から短歌や俳句の歌枕として、良く知られていました。芭蕉は、ここで、花かつみ（ヒメシャガ）を尋ねあるいた、とあります。

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I found some of Hanakatsumi iris flowers on the slope of Asakayama as shown above. There also was a board which told us that the flower was designated as the flower of Koriyama City.
安積山の斜面には、花かつみが咲いていました（写真）。また、郡山市の花に指定したとの説明板もありました。

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Basho also visited Asakanuma Swamp close to Asakayama and looked for the same flower. Asakanuma Swamp site was no more swamp today and all the area were rice fields as shown in the picture above. The condition was similar even when Basho visited more than 300 years ago as the “Asakanuma Swamp Site” description board above told us.
芭蕉は、安積山の近くの、安積沼にも行き、花かつみを探したとあります。現在、安積沼は無く、写真の通り、周りは全て田んぼになっています。実は、３００年前に芭蕉が訪れたときも、似たような状況だったようです（安積沼跡の説明板参照）。

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Then Basho traveled further north to Nihonmatsu. His destination was a historic Kurotsuka Site. There was an old story of merciless witch who lived in Kurotsuka Site, but finally she was killed and buried under Kurotsuka Mound. Her large stone house called “Iwaya”, and Kurotsuka Mound were preserved at the site. Photos above show an outside view of the site, Iwaya stone house, and Kurotsuka Mound.
このあと、芭蕉は二本松に向かいます。彼の目的地は、黒塚でした。黒塚には、鬼婆伝説があり、ここの岩屋に住んでいたが、とうとう殺されて黒塚の下に葬られたとのことです。現在、安達が原の黒塚には、写真のように、岩屋と黒塚が保存されています。

Actually, Basho stayed a night at Hiwada post village, and the next day he moved to Nihonmatsu and finally to Kitamachi of Fukushima City where he stayed another night. Today, I traveled from Sukagawa to Fukushima in a day and stayed a night near Kitamachi area. Tomorrow is the last journey for me traveling through the northern part of Fukushima Prefecture.
芭蕉は、この間、安積山のある日和田に１泊し、次の日に、二本松の黒塚、そして福島市の北町まで行きました。私は、須賀川から福島市まで１日で来て、今夜は北町の近くに泊まります。明日は、芭蕉の県北の旅を追い、最終日になります。

The exact route and locations are shown in the map below. The map can be scaled up and down with a click and scroll.
ルートと場所は、下の地図を参照ください。地図は、クリックとスクロールで、拡大・縮小が可能です。