Both protagonists were compelled to leave their homes and strike out on a journey, although their motivations were different. The source of their motivations for traveling reflected the overall feeling of each story. Candide was physically kicked out with “twenty kicks in the rear” (525) by the Baron Thunder-Ten-Tronckh, for daring to kiss his daughter. Before this, he had never left his home region. Basho, on the other hand, was a frequent traveler. In fact, The Narrow Road of the Interior was the last in a series of “five travel diaries” (605). Basho wrote, “I found myself... thinking of crossing Shirakawa Barrier” (607). His motivations for setting out arose from within himself. He said the “spirits of the road” and “the god of restlessness” (607) made him eager to start journeying again, putting a poetic touch on his internal wanderlust. Candide’s motivations came from external forces, and time and time again, he fell prey to external forces which shaped his journey. Nature was one such external force. Candide was sailing and suddenly his “vessel was attacked by a horrible tempest” (526). Armed conflicts forced him to travel in one direction then the other. Basho’s journey was shaped by internal desires, both to visit potential clients and important sites in nature and history. Each site he visited always tended to provoke internal emotions. “It was especially moving to see the memorials to the two young wives” (613). He spent much time contemplating the sights and writing poetry from his feelings and thoughts. Even at the end of his narrative, Basho sets out to “witness the relocation of the Ise sanctuaries,” his desires overcoming his “travel fatigue” (629).
        A consistent theme which reappears throughout both narratives is that of warfare. The first few chapters of Candide detailed the young man’s involuntary drafting within the Bulgar army. Voltaire detailed the horrors of war through Candide’s eyes. Candide reached a “village which had been burnt to the ground... in strict accordance with the laws of war” (523). Old men were beaten, wives were “butchered,” young girls “who had first satisfied the natural needs of various heroes” were “disemboweled,” and “[s]cattered brains and severed limbs littered the ground” (523-24). Candide reached another village and “the heroes of the Abare had given it the same treatment” (524) used by the Bulgars. It is clear that Voltaire used Candide’s experiences to paint a horrid picture of war, although the author maintained the optimistic voice established by Candide and Pangloss. This is seen when Voltaire used the phrase “this heroic butchery” (523); which is actually ironic, but it seems optimistic and idealistic. War and the heroes it produced were diametrically opposed in The Narrow Road of the Interior.
        Basho had a much more sentimental view of war. Several of the locations he visited were sites of warfare and memorials to heroes of the past. Early in his journey, Basho visited Hachiman Shrine. He was told that “it was at this very shrine that [Yoichi] prayed,” and Basho wrote that the “thought of the divine response evoked deep emotion” (610). Later, when Basho was near Takadachi, he wrote of the heroics which took place there. “Yoshitsune shut himself up with a chosen band of loyal men- yet their heroic deeds lasted only a moment, and nothing remains but evanescent clumps of grass” (618). He “wept for a long time” (618) touched by the fact that nothing remained there to memorialize Yoshitsune’s sacrifice. Clearly, Basho placed deep emphasis on the nobility of war and warriors. No traces of irony would be found if Basho used the word ‘hero’ whereas Voltaire’s label of ‘hero’ was laden with sarcasm. This was probably due to the fact that Voltaire was living through an age of upheaval, while Basho was looking at war through the lenses of antiquity.

        One of the main differences between both narratives was in the form of companionship. During Candide’s journeys, he tended to be accompanied by a companion or group of companions. It took a page and half before Basho even mentioned the fact that he had a “fellow pilgrim” (608) with him named Sora. Then Basho wrote on for another page before he gave more details about Sora. Perhaps Basho sought to evoke the sense of a single man merging with nature, which was typical of Eastern philosophy. The first person point of view of Basho’s narrative also contributed to the sense of isolationism. This is buttressed by repeated mentions of the isolated life. Basho left his “riverside hermitage” (607) and visited several hermitages such as “Butcho’s hermitage” (610) and “Ungo’s dwelling” (617) where it seemed that “a few recluses” (617) lived nearby.
        A feature of having a companion while traveling was having the ability to look at things through a different set of eyes. Voltaire used Candide’s companions in this way. Candide, like his name meant, was open and straightforward. His companions had previously established philosophical modes of thoughts. Pangloss, his first companion, held an optimistic outlook, which Voltaire explored through the character of Candide.

        “Isn’t the devil at the root of the whole thing [venereal disease]?
        -Not at all, replied the great man [Pangloss]; it’s an indispensable part of
        the best of all possible worlds, a necessary ingredient; if Columbus had not caught [it]... we should have neither chocolate or cochineal” (526).

Pangloss’s absurd logic was put on display, showing the extreme rationalizations that fatalistic optimists such as Pangloss used. Other companions represented different viewpoints, such as Martin’s perpetual pessimism and Cacambo’s survivalist pragmatism. Sora was used in the same way as well. Frequently, Basho interspersed Sora’s haikus in his narrative, even though he had just written a prose description of the same scene that inspired Sora’s haiku. Basho also used Sora to “retain something of the feel of linked verse” (605) where different poets would add to a compilation of poetry. Sora’s presence also had another advantage. He would be able to help shoulder some of “the hardships of the road” (609).
        Both Candide’s and Basho’s travels were not without trouble. Candide went through a ridiculous amount of terrible experiences, which was precisely the point of the story. Candide was devoted to the troubles encountered by Candide and his companions and how they dealt with the experiences, using their various philosophies. After being flogged terribly, Candide asked “If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?” (529). He continually returned to the philosophy he first learned from Pangloss, questioning it on the basis of his experiences and observations. The Narrow Road of the Interior was written for a different purpose, so the hardships faced by Basho were downplayed. Basho wrote, “my old complaint flared up, causing me such agony that I almost fainted” (613), in one of the rare instances where he detailed his suffering on the journey. Even then, he only alluded to his problems, and the reader had to read the footnote to find out that he was speaking of chronic stomach aches and hemorrhoids. Basho also had a reputation to uphold. He put a positive spin on the hardships, not too unlike Pangloss. In this way, Basho turned himself into a noble, almost virtuous traveler. He did this again when he wrote of a musician singing a ballad with his lute at an inn.

        “He performed not far from where I was trying sleep, and I found his loud, countrified falsetto rather noisy... But then I realized how admirable it was that the fine old customs were still preserved” (616).

One can imagine the real feelings Basho had were quite different from the feelings he put down for his disciples and patrons to read.
        Still, Basho treated these hardships similarly to the way the characters in Candide did, as a means of finding purpose in the journey; and to a greater extent, a purpose in life. Upon seeing a monument and being overwhelmed with emotions, Basho said “This is a traveler’s reward,” and was “moved to tears” and “forgot the hardships of the road” (615). For Candide the traveler’s reward was “the joy of seeing Miss Cunégonde again” (551). Again, both narratives differenated with the use of the external and the internal. Basho walked for scenes that inspired his mind and soul, and Candide walked for the hope of seeing his lover again.

        One event shared by both travel narratives was that of getting lost. The consequences were different for both Candide and Basho, but highlighted the rewards sought by each traveler. Candide and another companion, Cacambo, became lost for many days and faced a number of natural obstacles in South America. Finally, they found a river and traveled by canoe, ending up in the mythical land of El Dorado. They saw amazing sights that few outsiders had ever seen. In fact, Candide remarked, “This probably is the country where everything is for the best” (548). They were sheltered handsomely for a month, in houses “decorated with rubies and emeralds” (548) and paneling of gold and silver. The interruption in Candide’s journey produced a magnificent reward. Similarly, when Basho got lost with Sora on the way to Hiraizumi on a rarely used trail, he got a surprising reward. After they “finally emerged at the port town of Ishino-maki,” they saw a scene where “[h]undreds of coastal vessels rode together in the harbor, and smoke ascended everywhere from the cooking fires of houses jostling for space” (617) They were “[a]stonished to have stumbled upon such a place” (617). However, all Basho got was a stay at a “wretched shack” (617). Candide’s detour was a major plot point which affected him in later points of Candide. He left the perfect world with enough money to “retake Miss Cunégonde” (550), in keeping with his goals. Basho’s detour was a mere hiccup in his itinerary, but he was able to use the experience to describe a beautiful village scene, a ‘traveler’s reward’ in his eyes.
        A French philosopher and a Japanese poet wrote stories which ended up sharing the characteristics of the travel narrative. Voltaire wrote the fictional narrative Candide primarily as a satirical look at various European philosophies and institutions whereas Basho wrote the non-fiction text The Narrow Road of the Interior as a homage and continuation of the venerable tradition of travelogues of Japanese literature. In spite of cultural and ideological differences, both narratives had several concepts arise, sometimes complementing each other, sometimes contrasting with each other. The commonalities shared by both highlight the unique genre of the travel narrative.

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