Monument of Shimazaki Toson

In 1893, when a writer, Shimazaki Toson, was 22 years old, he resigned from his teaching job due to troubles with love, and went wondering to the Kansai region [south-western part of Japan] following the places and ruins related to Matsuo Basho and Saigyo. He visited Ishiyamadera Temple in early February, in the same year, and prayed for Murasaki Shikibu’s soul, offering a book, Hamlet. Toson’s poem in which he expressed his feelings at that time is engraved in this monument. At the end of May in the same year, Toson visited Ishiyamadera Temple again, and stayed in a room of Sajo Mitsuzo-in Temple for about two months. The monument with his poem was built in the site where Sajo Mitsuzo-in Temple used to be located.