Do Not Follow

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.

Matsuo Basho

If you’re not freaked out by insects, this article about the “Metachronal waves of legs ” is a neat intro to how centipedes and millipedes walk through a process called metachronal rhythm . Apparently, four-legged creatures walk this way, too, which is generalized by how a back leg leads the one in front.

About the author

Matsuo Basho (1644 – November 28, 1694); born Matsuo Kinsaku (松尾 金作), later known as Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa (松尾 忠右衛門 宗房) was the most famous Japanese poet of the Edo period. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku (then called hokku). He is also well known for his travel essays beginning with Records of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton (1684), written after his journey west to Kyoto and Nara. Matsuo Bashō’s poetry is internationally renowned, and, in Japan, many of his poems are reproduced on monuments and traditional sites. Although Bashō is famous in the West for his hokku, he himself believed his best work lay in leading and participating in renku. As he himself said, “Many of my followers can write hokku as well as I can. Where I show who I really am is in linking haikai verses.”