Photo/Illutration Visitors walk inside the premises of Chusonji temple in Hiraizumi, Iwate Prefecture. Matsuo Basho composed well-known haiku poems in this medieval town. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Actor Masaki Suda played the role of Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-1189) in this year’s Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) "taiga" period drama “Kamakura-dono no 13-nin" (The 13 Lords of the Kamakura Shogun).

Suda performed the part of the tragic war hero--who was also a legendary warrior of the Minamoto clan and prominent figure in the Genpei War (1180–85) with the Taira Clan--with enigmatic cheerfulness.

The character, as played by the actor, scared me at times with his pursuit of victory by any means, but I kind of miss him now that he has been ruined along with his vassals in the drama.

Centuries after the deaths of Yoshitsune and his men, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), a famous haiku poet, composed a short poem musing about the fate of these warriors.

“Natsukusa ya /tsuwamono domo ga /yume no ato” (Summer grasses /all that remains /of soldiers’ dreams).

The honor and glory of the heroic soldiers who fought to their deaths to protect Yoshitsune have “become dreams from the distant past, and now there is nothing but summer grasses thickly growing in front of the eyes,” according to an interpretation of the poem in a dictionary of famous poems and quotes published by Sanseido Co., a Japanese publishing company.

Summer grasses in Japan grow profusely as if to erase the memories of whatever happened there in the past.

Thanks to the heat and humidity of a Japanese summer, weeds grow so luxuriantly in the season that they are hard to deal with. The tough challenge posed by weeds may have profound impacts on our society and culture.

Tsuneichi Miyamoto (1907-81), a giant in folklore, thought the strength of weeds defined Japanese agriculture. Weeding in rice paddies is tiresome work, but it must be meticulously done time and again.

In large-scale farming using many workers, it may be difficult to ensure weeding is done carefully.

This may explain why small-scale farming, in which arable land is left to the care of individual farmers, became mainstream in Japan, Miyamoto said in his book “Nihon wo omou” (Thinking about Japan).

Miyamoto probably developed this theory as he traveled to all corners of this nation.

Although I only have a small garden to take care of, I can understand that farming in this country is, at its heart, a war with weeds.

The phrase “as resilient as weeds” rings true to us because we have long been living with this climate.

As the rainy season sets in soon, we will again marvel at the rampant force of weeds.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 5

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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