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- tabi 旅 travel, travelling -
tabi no kokoro 旅の心 lit. "travell heart"
my travelling mind, my wandering mind,
my vagabond spirit, my urge to roam,
my mind set to travelling
This is one of the difficult expressions used by Basho, who spent most of his life "on the road".
tabine 旅寝 sleeping while on the road
tabine sen 旅寝せん "let us travel together and share a lodging for sleeping at night"
tabigarasu 旅烏 "traveling crow", wandering crow,
is a common metaphor for people who travel a lot, like a vagabond, wanderer. People also use it to talk about themselves.
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. WKD : Travel, Traveler's Sky 旅 tabi .
Places visited :
. - Basho travelling in Japan - .
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- - - tabine 旅寝 Basho sleeping on the road - - -
病雁の夜寒に落ちて旅寝哉
. byoogan no yosamu ni ochite tabine kana .
I fall ill on a cold night like a sick goose
花の陰謡に似たる旅寝哉
. hana no kage utai ni nitaru tabine kana .
I feel myself to be in a Noh play.
The Cherry Blossoms at Mount Yoshino 吉野山
名月の見所問はん旅寝せん
. meigetsu no midokoro towan tabine sen .
let us travel together to see the autumn moon
- for Kobe Toosai 神戸洞哉/ 神戸等哉 / 等栽 Kobe Tosai in Fukui
都出でて神も旅寝の日数哉
. miyako idete kami mo tabine no hikazu kana.
sharing many nights with the gods on the road
死にもせぬ旅寝の果てよ秋の暮
. shi ni mo senu tabine no hate yo aki no kure .
(autumn) autumn dusk. end of my journey. I did not die yet
(shini mo senu)
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. tabine shite mishi ya ukiyo no susu harai (susuharai) .
(winter) end of year housecleaning. sleeping on the road. floating world
This haiku contains yo no tsune 世常
On one side there is the poet in his own world.
On the other side is the everyday world, doing everyday jobs.
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旅寝して我が句を知れや秋の風
. tabine shite waga ku o shire ya aki no kaze .
(autumn) autumn wind. sleeping on the road. to know my hokku
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旅寝よし宿は師走の夕月夜
tabine yoshi yado wa shiwasu no yuuzukiyo
great to sleep on the road -
this lodging in december
with a sickle moon
Written on day 9 of the 12th lunar month in 1687. 貞亨4年12月9日
This is a greeting hokku to his host Ichi-I 一井 in Nagoya.
The next day Basho took off to visit his disciples in Atsuta.
Owari no Ichi-I 尾張の一井
His residence was Ichi-I An 一井庵.
Oi no Kobumi 笈の小文
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .
. WKD : yuuzukiyo 夕月夜 "moon in the evening" .
In autumn, from day 2 until day 7 or 8, when the moon looks like a drawn bow in the late autumn evening. It was a well loved theme for poetry since olden times.
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高水に星も旅寝や岩の上
. takamizu ni hoshi mo tabine ya iwa no ue .
the stars too sleep on their journey — Tanabata 七夕 Star Festival
夜着ひとつ祈り出して旅寝かな
. yogi hitotsu inori-idashite tabine kana .
a padded kimono on a cold night
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よるべをいつ一葉に虫の旅寝して
yorube o itsu hitoha ni mushi no tabine kana
Basho age 37, 延宝8年
The yellow leaf floats –
o cycada, where will you
suddenly wake up?
Tr. (© DS)
One small insect on a large paulownia leaf has fallen into the Fukagawa river and is floating around. When will it find a safe place at the shore?
This image is classic in Japanese poetry.
floating around
on a paulownia leaf, this insect
sleeps on its trip . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve
The cut marker kana is at the end of line 3.
. kiri hitoha 桐一葉 (きりひとは) one paulownia leaf .
kigo for early autumn
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Basho Shuuku 芭蕉秀句 The best hokku of Basho
by Katoo Shuuson 加藤楸邨 Kato Shuson (1905 - 1993)
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あさむつや月見の旅の明け離れ
. asamutsu ya tsukimi no tabi no ake-banare .
(autumn) moon viewing. six in the morning. travelling. dawn
杜若語るも旅のひとつ哉
. kakitsubata kataru mo tabi no hitotsu kana .
(summer) Iris laevigata. to talk about. travelling
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source : Nishio Shiho 西尾志保
おもしろや今年の春も旅の空
omoshiro ya kotoshi no haru mo tabi no sora
how amusing
this year in spring
the skies of a journey
According to Kyorai's book, Basho sent this hokku to him to indirectly inform him of the planned journey. The verse was published in 1791, with Ranku's postscript, in a collection of letters and haikai from Kyorai.
Tr.and note by Jane Reichhold
so exciting -
in the spring of this year too
the sky of wayfaring
Tr. Barnhill
Written in 1689
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住みつかぬ旅の心や置火燵
. sumitsukanu tabi no kokoro ya okigotatsu .
(winter) kotatsu heater, brazier. no place to live. traveller's mind.
旅に病んで夢は枯野をかけ廻る
. tabi ni yande yume wa kareno o kakemeguru .
the death haiku of Matsuo Basho
. . . I am ill on the road . . .
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旅人の心にも似よ椎の花
tabibito no kokoro ni mo niyo shii no hana
my mind of a traveller
should be like this -
pasania blossoms
Tr. Gabi Greve
the traveling heart
should be like
hidden blossoms
Tr. basho revisited
and another about the pasania blossoms
Sent to Kyoriku (Kyoroku)
shii no hana no kokoro ni mo niyo Kiso no tabi
emulate the heart
of pasania blossoms:
a Kiso journey”
Tr. Barnhill
. - Morikawa Kyoroku / Kyoriku 森川許六 - .
まづ頼む椎の木もあり夏木立
mazu tanomu shii no ki mo ari natsu kodachi
. WKD : shii 椎 the Shii-oak, Pasania .
Castanopsis cuspidata. Shii-Castanopsis
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. tabibito to waga na yobaren hatsu shigure .
more haiku from Basho, the Eternal Traveller
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旅烏古巣は梅になりにけり
tabi-garasu furu su wa ume ni narini keri
tabigarasu furusu wa ume ni nari ni keri
a wayfaring crow:
its old nest has become
a plum tree
Tr. Barnhill
The wandering crow
finds only plum blossoms
where its nest has been
Tr. Sam Hamill
source : books.google.co.jp
Written in 貞亨2年, Basho age 43
This is a text to a scroll painting.
The "wandering crow" or "traveling bird" Basho had finally spent a leisurely New Year at his homeland, Iga Ueno.
He could enjoy the first fragrance of the plum blossoms.
tabigarasu is a common metaphor for people who travel a lot, like a vagabond, wanderer. People also use it to talk about themselves.
. 野ざらし紀行 Nozarashi Kiko .
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旅に飽きてけふ幾日やら秋の風
tabi ni akite kyoo ikuka yara aki no kaze
weary of the journey,
how many days like today?
autumn’s wind
Tr. Barnhill
tired of the journey,
what day is it now today?
the wind of autumn
Tr. Chilcott
Written on the 10th day of the 7th lunar month 貞亨5年7月10日.
Basho spent the night at Narumi, Nagoya.
Basho was tired of travelling and after resting some days, he suddenly head the wind of autumn. It was the beginning of autumn 立秋 in the lunar calendar.
With reference to a waka by 藤原敏行 Fujiwara no Toshiyuki (? - ?907)
秋来ぬと目にはさやかに見えねども
風の音にぞ驚かれぬる
Autumn has arrived
I cannot clearly see it,
And yet I am taken aback
By that familiar sound
Of the autumn wind.
- Tr. : Philippe - USA
Oi no Kobumi 笈の小文
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .
. kaze no oto 風の音 the sound of wind - .
another waka about Sumi no E 住の江 - Osaka, by
. 藤原敏行 Fujiwara no Toshiyuki .
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年暮れぬ笠着て草鞋はきながら
. toshi kurenu kasa kite waraji hakinagara .
wearing my travelers hat
and my straw sandals
the year comes to an end
Tr. Gabi Greve
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月ぞしるべこなたへ入らせ旅の宿
. tsuki zo shirube konata e irase tabi no yado .
come to my house, a wayside inn
憂き人の旅にも習へ木曾の蠅
. ukihito no tabi ni mo narae Kiso no hae .
learn from the journey of a sorrowing wayfarer - Basho talks to the flies of Kiso
This was a poem written for his disciple Kyoroku (Kyoriku) 許六, who left for a trip, see above
tabibito no kokoro ni mo niyo shii no hana
. - Morikawa Kyoroku / Kyoriku 森川許六 - .
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世を旅に代かく小田の行戻り
yo o tabi ni shiro kaku oda no yuki modori
traveling the world
instead of tilling a small field
round and round
Tr. Addiss
on a journey through the world,
tilling a small field,
back and forth
Tr. Barnhill
travelling the world
tilling a small field of rice
back and forth and back . . .
Tr. Chilcott
Written in 元禄7年 - 1694 in a letter to 杉山杉風 Sugiyama Sanpu.
Basho seems to sum up his own lifestyle.
Basho stayed in Owari, Nagoya.
shiro kaki 代かき letting water into the wet rice paddies
kigo for summer
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Carrying luggge in the Edo period
yanagi goori 柳行李 wicker boxes from willow tree
. yanagigoori katani wa suzushi hatsu makuwa .
his wicker boxes
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. WKD : Travel, Traveler's Sky 旅 tabi .
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