Mar 5, 2020
山頭火句集の鉢の子の十九
Santouka Phrasebook
Child of the Bowl
19
.
.
.
まつすぐな道で
さみしい
.
.
.
keeping to the path*
is loneliness
Amateur translation by haikubynight🗾
*Translation assuming 「まつすぐで」 is actually 「まっすぐで」, meaning “straight ahead or forward”, but written using the large 「つ」 instead of the small 「っ」. This seems to occur in other places in Santouka’s work.
In this poem, I’ve interpreted the double meaning of one, finding loneliness on the physical road being a solo traveler, and two, finding loneliness in keeping to the path to peace and enlightenment for a Buddhist priest.