219Haiku 俳句
この道や行く人なしに秋の暮
このみちやゆくひとなしにあきのくれKono michi ya yuku hito nashi ni aki no kure
“This road — no one else walks it. Autumn evening.”
The meaning
Going your own way sometimes means walking alone. The poem makes it neither complaint nor glory: it is simply the price of a path that is one's own.
At the origin
A haiku from Bashō's final year (1694), often read as a look back on his artist's life.
The characters
- この konothis
- 道 michiroad
- や yacutting word
- 行く
- 人
- なし
- に
- 秋
- の
- 暮
やParticle“And” of an open list: among others. In a haiku it is the cut — a silence that parts the verse.
In practice
If your path is little traveled, that is not a sign of error.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 200 人の一生は重荷を負うて遠き道を行くが如し A man's life is a long road walked under a burden; there is no need to hurry.
- 265 無理が通れば道理引っ込む When abuse passes, reason withdraws.
- 181 秋深き隣は何をする人ぞ Deep autumn — my neighbor, how does he live?
- 216 枯朶に烏のとまりけり秋の暮 On a bare branch a crow has settled — autumn evening.
- 049 十人十色 Ten people, ten colors.