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Basho (1644-1694) is the most famous Haiku poet of Japan. He made his living as a teacher and writer of Haiku and is celebrated for his many travels around Japan, which he recorded in travel journals. This translation of his most mature journal,Oku-No-Hosomichi, details the most arduous part of a nine-month journey with his friend and disciple, Sora, through the backlands north of the capital, west to the Japan Sea and back toward Kyoto. More than a record of the journey, Basho's journal is a poetic sequence that has become a center of the Japanese mind/heart. Ten illustrations by Hide Oshiro illuminate the text. Cid Corman was well-known as a poet, translator and editor ofOrigin, the ground-breaking poetry magazine.… (more)
What a lovely character is Basho as he wanders through time and place alert to whatever happens on his journey. Usually with someone, a companion servant, he often gives the impression he is alone. There is delight in his both his prose and haiku regardless of how poorly they translate.
There is much to be explored in these sketches not least an understnding of metaphor. ( )
This 'little book of travel' through Japan by one its greatest poets is simple, subtle and charming, if a little stiff in places (the translation?). A small sip from its pages each night was a gentle invitation to let the mind wander. I particularly enjoyed the sample verses from Basho's poetic companions given occasionally alongside his own, all written at the same time, which helped build up a sense of the varied possibilities of haiku. ( )
Travel sketches of an author in search of spiritual fulfillment. The resulting text is one of the classics of Japanese and world literature. There are better translations available, but the central message comes through nonetheless. ( )
This is a sweet travel diary by Basho, the poet of 17th century Japan. He travels to sacred spots, places other poets had been and comments on the scenery, the weather, the other people he meets on the trip. He writes haikus to commemorate his visit to these places. It is beautiful and tranquil. The book includes a map of his route, and the poems in Japanese at the end of the book. ( )
Haiku, or hokku as it was called during the lifetime of Bashō, is the shortest among the traditionally accepted forms of Japanese poetry.
Introduction (Penguin Classics, 1966).
Following the example of the ancient priest who is said to have travelled thousands of miles caring naught for his provisions and attaining the state of sheer ecstasy under the pure beams of the moon, I left my broken house on the River Sumida in the August of the first year of Jyōkyō among the wails of the autumn wind.
The records of a weather-exposed skeleton (Penguin Classics, 1966).
The passing days and months are eternal travellers in time.
Basho (1644-1694) is the most famous Haiku poet of Japan. He made his living as a teacher and writer of Haiku and is celebrated for his many travels around Japan, which he recorded in travel journals. This translation of his most mature journal,Oku-No-Hosomichi, details the most arduous part of a nine-month journey with his friend and disciple, Sora, through the backlands north of the capital, west to the Japan Sea and back toward Kyoto. More than a record of the journey, Basho's journal is a poetic sequence that has become a center of the Japanese mind/heart. Ten illustrations by Hide Oshiro illuminate the text. Cid Corman was well-known as a poet, translator and editor ofOrigin, the ground-breaking poetry magazine.
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Wikipedia in English (2)
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There is much to be explored in these sketches not least an understnding of metaphor. (