Quoting from one end in this way would be a long story, but there is much to be learned from Masumi's observations, especially since no one has ever walked through people's New Year's alone like he did and seen it. a rice-planting dance, so-called the troupe of Yajuro and Toukuro Emburi-suri*, still performed in a village near Sendai, came to Tokuoka village on the morning of the 18th. We assume that it was originally derived from a Kasegidori group, but it seems that there were already people in this region who made a living doing this as a form of entertainment from this period. There were many remarkable phrases in the celebration of rice planting. For example, there is a phrase about the feelings of pleasure at the rice-planting lady's pregnancy. It is said that some groups of rice farmers wore a gourd halved, carved with eyes and nose and coated with white powder. The other day I received a gift from Mr. Kouda, who told me it was a Korean Hyottoko**, and it was just a simple one made of gourd. I read this paragraph just the next day, and I couldn't help but remember it and laugh locking eyes with the Korean mask on the shelf.

observation......（名）観察

troupe......（名）一座、一行

remarkable......（形）目立った、卓越した

pregnancy,,....（名）妊娠

gourd......（名）ヒョウタン

halve......（動）半分にする

lock eyes with......顔を見合わせる

There are still many topics of stories in this year's diary, but I'm going to skip them all now in order to get ahead of myself. Did he spend New Year's Day the following year, 1789, near Higashiyama and Ohara in Rikuchu? At the beginning of June, at the beginning of summer, he finally left this area and began to travel to Kitakami again. His travelogue from that time is "Mountains in Iwate". He came from Makado, Noheji*** to Karibasawa****, that is, from the Nambu clan to the Tsugaru clan on July 6. Then he passed through Aomori and followed the rocky cliffs of the inner bay from Miumaya***** to Utetsu******, looking for the right boat at the right time, and crossed the sea to Matsumae******* at midnight, when the villagers were constantly calling the names of their parents and sisters who had died in the famine to welcome their souls at the Bon Festival, according to the volume entitled "Along Sotogahama".

constantly......（副）絶えず

famine......（名）飢饉

There are currently five diaries from his stay in Matsumae, but there are no volumes in the middle of the diary, so his trail is uncertain. There are a number of new impressions, such as the fact that a drifter in slightly similar circumstances to him had benefited from a bit of life due to religious or literary motivations, and that the Ainu, who were exposed to cultures outside of the Kuchiezo********, were treated like half hermits, but the most unusual article was about the New Year's day under Matsumae Castle.

trail......（名）痕跡

drifter......（名）漂流者

expose......（動）触れさせる、経験させる

hermit......（名）隠者

It is titled "The Shore of Chishima" in a spring diary of 1792. At this time Masumi rented a house near Tenjin Shrine at the foot of Mt. Ohdate and lived a lonely bachelor's life, but it snowed so much that even on New Year's Day it was quiet outside, and even though he occasionally attended a samurai's waka party in the castle, there seems to have been no conspicuous event on the streets. On the 5th, they had Manzai in the castle, and it is noted that an itinerant actor named Sawada X, who was holed up here for the winter, had been summoned as a temporary Manzai********* performer. On the night of the 14th, a ceremony was held at a house in town. In Matsumae, a short cane held in the hand of children when they walked while saying a spell was called a Goihai stick. So, it is the same as the Yondori stick of Tobishima, Ugo or the Dosojin in Echigo, and one can imagine how this is the only method that the Japanese have been compelled to take with them since ancient times, even in snowy countries.

bachelor......（名）独身男性

conspicuous......（形）人目に付く、目立つ

itinerant......（形）移動する、巡回する

hold up......持ちこたえる、耐える

summon......（動）召喚する

compel......（動）余儀なくさせる

*Emburi-suri: Emburi: In February, a group of dancers called Tayu go from house to house playing flutes and drums and singing songs about the rice paddies to celebrate a good harvest.

**Hyottoko: It means "the fire man" in the mask of a man with a twisted mouth.

***Noheji: A town in the northeastern part of Aomori Prefecture.

****Karibasawa: The name of a place in northeastern Aomori Prefecture.

*****Miumaya: A village in the northwestern part of Aomori Prefecture.

******Utetsu: A village in the northwestern part of Aomori Prefecture.

*******Matsumae: The clan was located in the southwestern part of Hokkaido.

********Kuchiezo: Southwest Hokkaido.

*********Manzai: A traditional performance in which two performers, Tayu and Saizo, travel from house to house on New Year's Day to sing a celebratory song.