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- Oku no Hosomichi - 奥の細道 - おくのほそ道
The Narrow Road to the Deep North -
. Oku no Hosomichi - 奥の細道 - Introduction .
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- - - Station 44 - Postscript 跋 - - -
In this little book of travel is included everything under the sky - not only that which is hoary and dry but also that which is young and colorful, not only that which is strong and imposing but also that which is feeble and ephemeral.
As we turn every corner of the Narrow Road to the Deep North, we sometimes stand up unawares to applaud and we sometimes fall flat to resist the agonizing pains we feel in the depths of our hearts.*
There are also times when we feel like taking to the road ourselves, seizing the raincoat lying nearby, or times when we feel like sitting down till our legs take root, enjoying the scene we picture before our eyes. Such is the beauty of this little book that it can be compared to the pearls which are said to be made by the weeping mermaids in the far off sea. What a travel it is indeed that is recorded in this book, and what a man he is who experienced it. The only thing to be regretted is that the author of this book, great man as he is, has in recent years grown old and infirm with hoary frost upon his eyebrows.
Early summer of the seventh year of Genroku (1694), Soryu.
Tr. by Nobuyuki Yuasa
source : terebess.hu/english
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からびたるも艶なるも、たくみましきも、はかなげなるも、おくの細みちみもて行に、おぼえずたちて手たたき、伏して村肝を刻む。一般（ひとたび）は蓑をきるきるかゝる旅せまほしと思立、一たびは座してまのあたり奇景をあまんず。かくて百般の情に、鮫人が玉を翰（ふで）にしめしたり。旅なる哉、器なるかな。只なげかしきは、かうやうの人のいとかよはげにて、眉の霜のをきそふぞ。
元禄七年初夏 素竜書 written by Soryu
Kashiwagi Soryoo, Soryuu 柏木素龍 Soryo, Soryu
(? - 1716) 正徳6年3月5日
Born in Awa Tokushima (Shikoku). He was a samurai-servant to Yanagizawa Yoshiyasu 柳沢吉保, close to the 5th Shogun Tsunayoshi.
He wrote the postscript to Oku no Hosomichi, probably together with Sora.
His own hokku are mostly recorded in Sumidawara 炭俵.
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