土佐日記

THE TOSA DIARY

I set out here to do what I hear is done only by men,

and that is to make a diary as a woman.

It was on the twenty-first day of the twelfth month of that year,

at the evening hour of the dog, that we officially left

the governor’s mansion. I shall write briefly here of the

circumstances. The man himself, having come to the end

of his four or five year term, and having finished the

requisite duties including the receipt of his formal release

from duty, proceeded from his place of residence toward the shore

where he was to board his ship.

People from every region came to see him off.

Others with whom he had been on more familiar terms

found it difficult to make their goodbyes, and so they stayed

the entire day until night fell amid their raucous partying.

Translation by Kenneth L. Richard