On Journaling ...

While reading the journal of Bashô, a seventeenth century, Japanese poet, I found the following quote on journals, that I thought I would transcribe into my own journal-- that is, this web site.

How easy it is to observe that a morning began with rain only to become sunny in the afternoon; that a pine tree stood at a particular place, or to note the name of a river bend. This is what people write in their journals. Nothing's worth noting that is not seen with fresh eyes. You will find in my notebook random observations from along the road experiences and images that linger in heart and mind-- a secluded house in the mountains, a lonely inn on a moor.

I write in my notebook with the intention of stimulating good conversation, hoping that it will also be of use to some fellow traveler. But perhaps my notes are mere drunken chatter, the incoherent babbling of a dreamer. If so, read them as such.

This quote is from The Knapsack Notebook, as part of a collection of Bashô travel journals under the title, Narrow Road to the Interior, translated by Sam Hamill (page 57).

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