This Road
by Matsuo Basho
この道や Kono michi ya This Road!
行く人なしに Yuku hito nashi ni With no one going —
秋のくれ Aki no kure Autumn evening.
A true martial artist follows the Way alone. Every year, as the heat of summer begins to retreat and the coolness of autumn arrives, I always think about Basho’s poem This Road. There is this weird sadness that comes with the ending of summer which perhaps coincides with the fact that my birthday is always the last day of summer. Regardless, summer is over and with it comes this loneliness as less students come to class, and I become frustrated because all the work seems to be left for me to do by myself. On one hand, with this loneliness, I find myself becoming pessimistic about the Way (道) and frustrated with my students’ seemingly lack of discipline, progress or dedication. In another way, I find myself forgetting that the Way is a singular pursuit or something which must be practiced “alone.” Reading Basho’s poem and Robert Aitken’s commentary on this poem in his book A Zen Wave, always helps to remind me that there are at least two ways to understand the Way. In a pessimistic superficial interpretation of this poem, This Road is about Basho’s frustration with the lack of people on the path or how none of his students are living up to his expectations. To support this interpretation, Asataro Miyamori commented that Basho’s poem reflects that the Way is as “dreary and lonesome as an autumn evening.” One deeper but different meaning of this poem is Basho’s realization that the Way is a road which each of us must travel alone. Aitken commented on this poem by saying “You are born alone, you have realization alone, you die alone.” Understanding this, we realize that following a Way is a singular pursuit which means that it must be done itteni (一手に) which can translate as “alone” but can also interpreted as being done “single-handedly.” A teacher can teach something to us, but we alone learn it. A martial art is something which can only be practiced by ourselves - nobody can do it for us. Sure, people are in the room and a teacher might even be teaching us, but the learning is done alone or by ourselves. We can travel with other followers of the Way whose paths can merge at time with ours, but ultimately we must walk the path by ourselves under our own power. We are born alone, we have realizations alone, we die alone. The Way can be frustrating but that is why Furuya Sensei used to regularly say, “The Way is hard.” We must walk our own path under our own power and that is why a true martial artist follows the Way alone.
Today’s goal: Understand, as Furuya Sensei once wrote, “To be discouraged is part of training.”
Watch this short video by Alan Watts discussing the self.