Tama's Sitting Stone

In the year 1763 of the Western calendar on the ninth day of the tenth month, Tama was found by early morning villagers sitting on this stone and staring into the tree in front of him. He did not respond when accosted or questioned. He did not move when little children threw acorns at his head. Even an afternoon cloudburst could not sway him. He simply sat and stared.

During this time deep into the Edo era, Japan suffered political and technological stagnation due its chosen isolation and the central government's ceaseless quest for ever-increasing power over the provincial governors. It would be yet another hundred years before Japan would rejoin the world and the ruling samurai overthrown in a fit of rage and resentment. But in Tama's time there were no grand causes to die for or calls to greatness to advance the nation. In the far distant air of the capital city life was thick with political intrigues and self-absorbed interests.

By dusk, Tama was still frozen as a statue. Sometime in the darkness he left as he was not there the following morning. Later, it was found out his wife had died. (It was also later Tama realized a tree was in front of him as that was not the object of his interest.) A few months afterwards a haiku monk passed through the village and heard this story. He scribbled this poem before leaving.

Tama's sitting stone;

In the village, lightning strikes;

His world is his own