Enpo 9, Summer 1681
Basho is 38 years old,
Likely at Lake Biwa

Keep in mind, at the age of 38, the poet then called Tosei (unripe peach) was wanting to change.

Nature has made you the way you are, but Nature can change how you appear. Consider Zhuangzi’s saying, “A duck’s legs are short, to stretch them would worry him. A crane’s legs are long, to shorten them would make him sad.” (Zhuangzi, 6:8-9).

Summer rain
on the cranes, the legs are
becoming shorter

五月雨に鶴の足短くなれり
samidare ni tsuru no ashi mijikaku nareri

Matsuo Basho, Summer 1681

Summer 1691

Seeking change.

Change was afoot. In the summer of 1681, outside of Edo, by the Sumida River, Basho was getting used to his new home in the then rural Fukagawa District. In relative isolation he began the study of of the ancients including Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi. The cycles of the seasons, the appearance of the egrets and cranes nesting and fishing along the river, and especially the rainy days of early summer were subjects for thought. Zhuangzi says keep your inborn nature, Buddhism teaches change. So Basho says, the quickest way to change the world around you is to change yourself, i.e., move to Fukagawa, live in a cottage, and, walk in the river to shorten your legs.

samidare (literally 5th month, but Basho intends “early summer rain”) ni (on, referring to the crane legs) tsuru no ashi (crane legs) mijikaku (short) nareri (becoming)