青葉わけゆく良寛さまも行かしたろpushing through green leaves — Ryōkan-sama must have gone this way too

良寛ゆかりの国上山での句。青葉を分けて登るこの道を、良寛さまも行かれたことだろう。「行かしたろ」というやわらかい話し言葉に、百年前の乞食僧への親しみがこもる。A poem at Mount Kugami, associated with the monk Ryōkan. Ryōkan-sama too must have gone up this path, parting the green leaves. In the soft, colloquial "must have gone this way" is his fondness for the begging monk of a century before.