The year 1785 was the most traveled year in Masumi's life. At the end of April, when the fields were hazy and the cuckoos were singing incessantly, he left his poetry friends in Okachi and set off north along the riverbank. He was probably in Kubota's castle town in the summer, but he is not yet mentioned in his diary. The two volumes of "Sotogahama* Wind" and "Narrow Cloth of Kefu**" are a travelogue of two months from the beginning of August, during which time he made a tour of Tsugaru and then turned back again, crossing the mountain eastward from Kazuno***, north of Akita, down the bank of the Kitakami River**** near Iwayado, Esashi County*****. This was the peak of the traveller's keenness, and it was a time when society in the north was extremely bad, and there are many moving stories to be told, but I'll skip them. The next year, 1786, he would have spent New Year's at the Nambu clan******, but no trace of him is known for a year or so after this. His diary for the late fall and winter remains in one simple volume, "Snow in Isawabe". Until December, when it snows, he is said to have stayed with the Otsuki family in Yamanome near Ichinoseki******** and the Murakami family in Tokuoka, Isawa County, and so on, which is why he must have celebrated New Year's Day 1787 here.

incessantly......（副）ひっきりなしに

riverbank......（名）川岸

keenness......（名）鋭さ、熱心さ

clan......（名）藩

In 1787 he seems to have come further into Rikuzen and visited Ishinomaki, Matsushima********* and Sendai, but I don't know if there are any records of this either. To date, it has not yet been revealed in the slightest. Anyway, he had already turned back to Isawa County by the end of that year. And it was only recently revealed to him that he had become a sponger in his old friend's Murakami family, and that the next early spring had arrived because of the discovery of a volume called "Hazy Komagata".

sponger......（名）居候

*Sotogahama: The old names of places in Higashi-tsugaru County and Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture.

**Kefu: The name of a county in the Kazuno region of Akita Prefecture.

***Kazuno: The city is located in the northeastern part of Akita Prefecture.

****Kitakami River: A river that runs through central Iwate and eastern Miyagi Prefecture. It is the fourth longest river in Japan.

*****Iwayado: The town was located in Esashi County, Iwate Prefecture. Esashi County is located in the southern part of Iwate Prefecture.

******Nambu Clan: The clan was located in central Iwate and eastern Aomori prefectures. It is also called the Morioka Clan.

*******Isawabe: It may be the town of Isawa, which was located in Isawa County in southern Iwate Prefecture.

********Ishinomaki: The city facing the sea in eastern Miyagi Prefecture.

*********Matsushima: The town is located on the coast of Miyagi Prefecture. The scenery of Matsushima is one of the three most beautiful places in Japan.

**********Komagata: The name of a place in Kesennuma City on the northeastern coast of Miyagi Prefecture.