Japanese with anime voice: episode54
Hello, I’m Sachi.
May 16 is Travelers’ Day. In Japan, Matsuo Basho is a well-known person. He was a 俳人 (haijin) of the Edo period (1603-1868). 俳人 (haijin) is a person who creates 俳句 (haiku). 俳句 (haiku) is a short poem. Today is the day that Matsuo Basho set out on his journey around Japan in 1689. Mr.Matsuo was so eager to travel around Tohoku that he even sold his house to raise money for the trip. And he did it at the age of 45. His energy when he wants to do something is amazing.
My home prefecture also has a place associated with Matsuo Basho. Apparently, his final destination was Gifu. He left Edo, went to Nikko, around the Tohoku region, through the Sea of Japan, and came to Gifu. If his goal was to go to Tohoku, why did he come to Gifu in the opposite direction? It is also strange why he chose Gifu as his final destination when his starting point was Edo. He must have sold his house, so he could have ended up anywhere.
Still, the distance he walked was very long. Of course, in this era, people walked, right? Matsuo Basho’s itinerary is said to have covered 2,400 km. That’s an extraordinary distance. For me, just walking around an apartment complex of about 800 meters would be a hard task. I am sure my legs would be useless after such a long walk.
I remember when I went to Hawaii a long time ago, I climbed Diamond Head with thick-soled sandals. At the time, I had no idea what Diamond Head was like or what it was like. I just went there because it was famous. There was a small information center at the entrance, and a woman came to talk to me. When I went to listen to what she had to say, she was trying her best to make some kind of appeal to me with a stern face. But I did not understand English at that time. So I could only nod my head. Then she took out a guidebook and pointed to a picture of a shoe. Apparently, she was referring to my shoes. Despite her desperate advice, I told her it was okay. Then she looked at me suspiciously and gestured that I should do as I pleased. Still, without thinking too much about it, I headed for Diamond Head in my thick-soled sandals. I think they were about 5 cm thick at the toes and about 8 cm thick toward the heels. As I walked along, I gradually began to hear voices rustling behind me and the sound of people taking pictures nearby. When I turned around, I saw that the climbers behind me were looking at my feet. I don’t know what they were talking about, but I think they were saying something like, “I’m in sneakers but look at her feet” or “There’s a great hiker out there.” And the people who were passing me were saying to me, “Good luck,” and “That’s great.” When I was climbing the stairs at the end, the people behind me were yelling, “What the hell is that girl”, there’s a crazy girl in there.” In the end, I made it to the top and back down in my thick-soled sandals.
Even so, my feet didn’t hurt. I tried to report to the woman at the information desk that I had climbed the mountain in thick-soled sandals, but she was already gone. That was probably just after noon. And even though there were still many people going to Diamond Head at that time, the information desk was closed. I thought, “They are so free.” Well, that happened, didn’t it?
It seems that my legs and back are quite strong. When I decided to go snowboarding for the first time, I asked my friend how it felt. She told me that the first day she went snowboarding, her muscles were so sore the next day that she couldn’t move at all. She said that when she fell down, the impact of her buttocks hitting the ground hurt all the way down to her buttocks. So, I was prepared for sore muscles the next day, but the next day, I did not have any sore muscles. You may wonder if I really snowboarded, but I did. Even though it was my first time snowboarding, I was put on the lift from the beginning. They just explained to me how to ski there. After getting off the lift, the people I went with went off to snowboard freely. So, I didn’t know how to snowboard, but I tried to follow the example of the people around me. I took the lift a few times and repeatedly slid down from the top. So, I snowboarded properly. But I could not see any muscle pain in my legs and back at all. It seems that my legs and back are that strong, though. The road to Diamond Head was quite bumpy. If I could climb up that mountain with thick soles, I might be able to walk 2,400 kilometers if I put my mind to it. But to tell the truth, my left hip was hurting like hell when I walked the 5 km to the station. The important thing to remember is that I was young at the time.
