The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches

"I watched him rather carefully but found him almost stubbornly honest, utterly devoid of worldly cleverness."

"One of them was a girl named Kasane, which means manifold. I thought her name was somewhat strange but exceptionally beautiful."

"Tall islands point to the sky and level ones prostrate themselves before the surges of water."

"He must have chosen this particular spot for his smithy probably because he knew of a certain mysterious power latent in the water"

"The River Mogami has drowned Far and deep Beneath its surging waves The flaming sun of summer."

"Matsushima is a cheerful laughing beauty, while the charm of Kisagata is in the beauty of its weeping countenance. It is not only lonely but also penitent, as it were, for some unknown evil. Indeed it has a striking resemblance to the expression of a troubled mind."

"A poem for a pair of faithful osprey nesting on a rock: What divine instinct Has taught these birds No waves swell so high As to swamp their home?"

"Under the same roof We all slept together, Concubines and I – Bush-clovers and the moon."

"Move, if you can hear, Silent mound of my friend, My wails and the answering Roar of autumn wind."

"I felt deeply in my heart both the sorrow of one that goes and the grief of one that remains, just as a solitary bird separated from his flock in dark clouds, and wrote in answer: From this day forth, alas, The dew-drops shall wash away The letters on my hat Saying ‘A party of two’."

"Hiring a boat at the port of Yoshizaki on the border of the province of Echizen, I went to see the famous pine of Shiogoshi. The entire beauty of this place, I thought, was best expressed in the following poem by Saigyo. Inviting the wind to carry Salt waves of the sea, The pine tree of Shiogoshi Trickles all night long Shiny drops of moonlight. Should anyone dare to write another poem on this pine tree, it would be like trying to add a sixth finger to his hand."

"Mingled with tiny shells I saw scattered petals Of bush-clovers Rolling with the waves."