Aizen-in

This temple in Iga is the Matsuo family temple, which makes it the site of haiku poet Matsuo Bashō's grave, though only his hair is buried here. He died in Osaka in 1694, and his body was interred near Lake Biwa in Shiga, but his disciples ensured that part of him would remain with his ancestors. The cemetery garden contains a banana tree, bashō in Japanese and the source of the poet's pen name, alongside a camellia of the same wood used for his walking stick. Stone markers inscribed with his poems line the path to the grave. The temple itself worships Aizen Myō-ō, the deity associated with human passion and spiritual awakening.