The Kiso River

A poet and his young son stand on a white steel bridge, looking toward a castle above the Kiso River. From this first view, Kitahara Hakushū’s journey unfolds through rushing water, bright boats, summer cicadas, fireworks, and the changing colors of clouds. His five-year-old companion brings delight, determination, impatience, and an unexpected seriousness to the voyage.

The travelogue follows excursions around Inuyama, a descent to Kasamatsu, and a hurried visit to Ena Gorge. A drinking glass, a carpenter’s hammer, children at a riverside school, and a hawk above a sheer cliff are observed with the same alertness as a vast modern dam. Scenic beauty becomes a question of movement, memory, and the relation between individual sights and a whole river.

Kitahara Hakushū (1885–1942), one of Japan’s influential poets and songwriters, writes in rhythmic, color-rich prose. This new English translation presents the supplied travelogue in full, with concise notes on names, classical references, and period terms. AI-assisted translation.