Yugyo willow

A huge willow tree standing amidst a tranquil, rural landscape. The renowned poet Saigyo spied willow while on a journey and wrote a haiku about standing in its shade on the side of the road amidst the pure waters flowing through the surrounding rice paddies. Later, the playwright Kanze Nobumitsu wrote a play based on this poem, making the willow famous. The famed poet Basho also wrote about this willow in his “Narrow Road to the Interior,” described its moving beauty. Monuments inscribed with poems by Saigyo, Basho, and Buson have been placed next to the tree.