Many natural sites in Komatsu celebrate the pine tree along with other gracefully assorted companions such as the cherry trees, whose blossoming overwhelm the beautifully designed Rojô park in April. This nice garden was built in 1906, on the ground where the third lord of Maeda had built his castle.
 

Walking a few miles on the west, the Ataka barrier, were travelers had to show their pass to go further and enter the Daishoji domain, recalls a well known historical episode of the Genpei war which opposed the Minamoto and Taïra clans, competing for the control of the imperial throne at the end of the 12th century. At the height of intestine conflicts inside a Minamoto clan taking advantage on their enemies, a highly revered warrior in Japanese culture, Minamoto Yoshitsune and his right-hand man Benkei, managed by their courage to get leniency from the gateman Togashi Saemon, who decides to cover up their escape.
This episode, originally adapted in a 15th century Noh play would subsequently inspire a very famous Kabuki play and a movie from Akira Kurosawa. Nowadays, a commemorating monument, surrounded by a beautiful pine trees forest, stands on the top of a hill, overhanging the Japan Sea.
Not more than for the Kurikara Toge pass, did Bashô evoke this epic moment of Japanese history. But he did retain another, whose tragic inanity matched his poetic feelings. Going to worship at the Tada Shrine, Bashô admired there the helmet and the brocade robe of Saitô Sanemori, still displayed nowadays.