Narrow Road by Basho Matsuo

Narrow Road (Oku no Hosomichi) by Basho Matsuo

kusa no to mo

sumikawaru yo zo

hina no ie

Behind this door

Now buried in deep grass,

A different generation will celebrate

The Festival of Dolls.

-Translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa

even this grass hut

could for the new owner be

a festive house of dolls!

-Translated by Tim Chilcott 

My old grasshut

Lived in now by another generation

Is decked out with dolls.

-Translated by Earl Miner

This rude hermit cell

Will be different now, knowing Dolls’

Festival as well.

-Translated by Dorothy Britton

the grass door too

turning into

a doll’s house

-Translated by Cid Corman and Kamaike Susumu

Even a thatched hut

May change with a new owner

Into a doll’s house.

-Translated by Donald Keene

Even this grass hut

may be transformed

into a doll’s house.

-Translated by Sam Hamill

Even my grass-thatched hut

will have new occupants now:

a display of dolls.

-Translated by Helen Craig McCullough

Narrow Road by Basho Matsuo