Here am I, in the Second Year of Genroku [1689], suddenly taking it into my head to make a long journey to far, northern provinces. I might as well be going to the ends of the earth! There will be hardships enough to make my hair white, but I shall see with my own eyes places about which I have only heard! I shall be fortunate if I but return alive, I thought, staking my future on that uncertain hope. We finally arrived later that day at the post town of Soka.

What I find most trying is carrying my belongings on my thin, bony shoulders. I set out thinking to travel light, in only what I was clad, but I needed a durable paper coat to keep out the cold at night, a cotton kimono, rainwear, and such things as ink and brushes. Then there were various farewell gifts I could not refuse and cannot very well throw away, so these are burdens I shall have to bear.