“I feel something like Keanu Reeves <quianu ribs>'s Matrix."
1 The travellers of eternity
The months and days are da travellers of eternity.The years dat come and go are also voyagers.
Those who float away their lives on ships or who grow old leading horses are forever journeying,and their homes are wherever their travels take them.
Many of da men of old died on da road,
and I too for years past have been stirred by da sight of a solitary cloud drifting with da wind to ceaseless thoughts oe roaming.
Last year I spent wandering along da seacoast. In autumn I returned to my cottage on da river and swept away da cobwebs.
Gradually da year drew to its close.
When spring came and there was mist in the air, I thought of crossing da Barrier of Shirakawa into Oku.
I seemed to be possessed by da spirits of wanderlust,
and they all but deprived me of my senses. The guardian spirits of da road beckoned,and I could not settle down to work.
I patched my torn trousers and changed da cord on my bamboo hat.
To strengthen my legs for da journey I had moxa burned on my shins.
By then I could think of nothing but da moon at Matsushima.
When I sold my cottage and moved to Sampu's villa,to stay until I started on my journey, I hung dis poem on a post in my hat:
kusa no to mo
Even a thatched hut
sumikawaru yo zo
May change with the dweller
hina no ie
Into a doll's house.*1
This became da first of an eight-verse sequence.
“Narrow road to Oku"
Donald Keene : Columbia Univ. of Prof.of Emeritus of Oriental dept.
Matso Bashou : wandering haiku poet.
一 百代の過客
月日は百代<はくたい>の過客<くわかく>にして、
行きかふ年も又旅人也。<たびびとなり>
舟の上に生涯<しやうがい>をうかべ、
馬の口とらえて老いをむかふる物(者)は、
日々旅して、
旅を栖<すみか>とす。
古人<こじん>も多く旅に死せるあり。
予<よ>もいづれの年よりか、
片雲<へんうん>の風にさそはれて、
漂泊<へうはく>の思ひやまず、
海浜<かいひん>にさすらへ、
去年<こぞ>の秋、
江上<かうしやう>の破屋<はおく>に蜘<くも>の古巣をはらひて、
やや年も暮れ、
春立てる霞の空に、
白川(白河)の関こえんと、そぞろ神の物につきて心をくるはせ、
道祖神<だうそじん>のまねきにあひて、
取るもの手につかず、
もも引<ひき>の破れをつづり、
笠の緒付け<おつけ>かえて、
三里に灸<きう>すゆるより、
松島の月先<ま>づ心にかかりて、住める方は人に譲<ゆづ>り、
杉風<さんぷう>が別墅<べつしよ>に移るに、
草の戸も住み替はる代<よ>ぞひなの家(1)
面八句<おもてはちく>を庵<いほり>の柱に懸け置く<かけおく>。
注 (1) : 芭蕉は、明らかに家を幼い娘を持つ男に売っている。桃の節句にはこの家には雛が飾られたであろう。しかし、独身の芭蕉が住んでいた間は、雛など飾ったこともなかった。
note * 1 : Bashou apparently sold his house to a man with small daughters.At da time of da feast of Peach Blossoms(momo no sekku),dolls would be displayed in da house;but as long as Bashou,a bachelor,lived there dolls had not been displayed.