The months and days are the travellers of eternity. The years that 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.
Anyone with even the faintest interest in Japanese literature will have recognised the famous opening to Basho’s Narrow Road to the Deep North, three short sentences that may have brought to the surface all manner of memories for those among you who remember having to learn them off by heart in senior high school. Now considered the most renowned literary figure of the Edo period, the hallowed haiku-master was a compulsive traveller who, despite being denied the opportunity to see the world beyond the confines of his own country, found much to satisfy his wander-lust along the mountain trails of his native islands.
When spring came and there was mist in the air…
Everything about me was bewitched by the travel gods... The spirits of the roads beckoned.
This story is from the May 2017 edition of Tokyo Weekender.
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This story is from the May 2017 edition of Tokyo Weekender.
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