Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (1977), Paperback, 176 pages
Description
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.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Banoo
Matsuo Basho was a poet. He traveled throughout Japan. He wrote poems about it... and short essays. Prose and poetry mix. It is a beautiful thing when the two meet seamlessly.
...it was a great pleasure to see the marvelous beauties of nature, rare scenes in the mountains or along the coast, or to
To talk casually
About an iris flower
Is one of the pleasures
Of the wandering journey.
Regardless of weather,
The moon shines the same;
It is the drifting clouds
That make it seem different
On different nights. written by a priest
Autumn air whispers
A fallen leaf speaks gently
Basho is with us. Brian
...it was a great pleasure to see the marvelous beauties of nature, rare scenes in the mountains or along the coast, or to
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visit the sites of temporary abodes of ancient sages where they had spent secluded lives, or better still, to meet people who had entirely devoted themselves to the search for artistic truth. Since I had nowhere permanent to stay, I had no interest whatever in keeping treasures, and since I was empty-handed, I had no fear of being robbed on the way. I walked at full ease, scorning the pleasure of riding in a palanquin, and filled my hungry stomach with coarse food, shunning the luxury of meat. I bent my steps in whatever direction I wished, having no itinerary to follow. My only mundane concerns were whether I would be able to find a suitable place to sleep at night and whether the straw sandals were the right size for my feet. Every turn of the road brought me new thoughts and every sunrise gave me fresh emotions. My joy was great when I encountered anyone with the slightest understanding of artistic elegance. Even those whom I had long hated for being antiquated and stubborn sometimes proved to be pleasant companions on my wandering journey. Indeed, one of the greatest pleasures of traveling was to find a genius hidden among weeds and bushes, a treasure lost in broken tiles, a mass of gold buried in clay, and when I did find such a person, I always kept a record with the hope that I might be able to show it to my friends.To talk casually
About an iris flower
Is one of the pleasures
Of the wandering journey.
Regardless of weather,
The moon shines the same;
It is the drifting clouds
That make it seem different
On different nights. written by a priest
Autumn air whispers
A fallen leaf speaks gently
Basho is with us. Brian
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LibraryThing member tombrinck
This book is a translation of Basho's "Narrow Road to a Far Province". Basho recounts his journey through Japan with his companion Sora. The tale is told in prose form with haiku interspersed throughout, in a form called haibun. They encounter and stay with people along the way, from monks to
Britton's version is a quick read and a very reasonable translation, though more often than not she's a rhymer, creating silly rhymes in the haiku. The book also has a kanji version in the back, thankfully including small phonetic hiragana annotating difficult kanji for those of us who are only students of Japanese.
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merchants to prostitutes. They join in renga sessions and visit various uta-makura, "poetic places" -- places which are mentioned in traditional poetry.Britton's version is a quick read and a very reasonable translation, though more often than not she's a rhymer, creating silly rhymes in the haiku. The book also has a kanji version in the back, thankfully including small phonetic hiragana annotating difficult kanji for those of us who are only students of Japanese.
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LibraryThing member sinsofthedove
Basho's record of life as a wayfarer. The book itself is fabulous, but the translation itself leaves something to be desired, at least if you are a stickler for translations that do not presume to add to the original.
LibraryThing member antiquary
This volume is helpful for including other travel sketches besides the often-translated Narrow Road
LibraryThing member simonaries
Sun & moon are passing figures of countless generations, and years coming or going wanderers too. Drifting life away on a boat or meeting age leading a horse by the mouth, each day is a journey and the journey itself home.
LibraryThing member lilithcat
Matsuo Basho, the 17th century poet, travelled from Edo (Tokyo) to Kyoto, on a 9-month journey. This is his journal of the first half of that trip. Terse and evocative, the entries are interspersed with the master's haiku.
This is a bi-lingual (Japanese-English) edition, with notes, a map of Basho's
This is a bi-lingual (Japanese-English) edition, with notes, a map of Basho's
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journey, and illustrations, in sumi-e style, by Hide Oshiro. Show Less
LibraryThing member ConsciousReader
It is about a journey Basho undertook in ancient Japan with one of his pupils. During the way they encounter very different kinds of people and all occasions are a reason to make poetry. The book is full of haiku style made by the poets along their way.
It is interesting to note the title of the
The book is very short and is bilingual, what may be interesting only if you have some knowledge of the japanese language.
I recommend it if you like japanese style poetry, ancient literature and history and a bit of humor along the way.
It is interesting to note the title of the
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book is a Narrow Road to a Far Province, a journey you can do nowadays in 3 or 4 hours at least and took Basho a few days.The book is very short and is bilingual, what may be interesting only if you have some knowledge of the japanese language.
I recommend it if you like japanese style poetry, ancient literature and history and a bit of humor along the way.
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LibraryThing member bhslibrary
Accounts of five of Basho's major journeys
LibraryThing member revliz
A funny meditative little book.
LibraryThing member stillatim
I want to be very clear about one thing: who the heck am I to be giving Basho two stars? I am nobody, and I am not giving Basho two stars, I am giving this book two stars. The Japanese literary tradition is so deep and aesthetically interesting, and I have no doubt whatsoever that, *in Japanese*,
But I, filthy occidental, do not know Japanese, and I am reduced to reading sentences such as this, chosen entirely at random: "Dragging my sore heels, I plodded along like Saigyo, all the time with the memory of his suffering at the River Tenryu in my mind, and when I hired a horse, I thought of the famous priest who had experienced the disgrace of being thrown from his horse into a moat."
I can accept that my own ignorance makes it hard to get the references, and that something just does go missing if, like me, you don't know much about 17th century Japan's cultural references. That's on me. What isn't on me is the plodding, dragging translation, which does cause my heel to get sore and cause my mind great suffering, and in my less patient moments made me wish the translator could be thrown into a moat. Even if one didn't want to bother making the prose into something approaching literature, one might try with the haiku. No such luck.
At sunrise I saw
Tanned faces of fishermen
Among the flowers
Of white poppy.
I'll be in the other room, reading Rexroth's translations.
To be fair, I'm very glad someone took the time to get this into English of any quality.
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these travel narratives are well worth reading. But I, filthy occidental, do not know Japanese, and I am reduced to reading sentences such as this, chosen entirely at random: "Dragging my sore heels, I plodded along like Saigyo, all the time with the memory of his suffering at the River Tenryu in my mind, and when I hired a horse, I thought of the famous priest who had experienced the disgrace of being thrown from his horse into a moat."
I can accept that my own ignorance makes it hard to get the references, and that something just does go missing if, like me, you don't know much about 17th century Japan's cultural references. That's on me. What isn't on me is the plodding, dragging translation, which does cause my heel to get sore and cause my mind great suffering, and in my less patient moments made me wish the translator could be thrown into a moat. Even if one didn't want to bother making the prose into something approaching literature, one might try with the haiku. No such luck.
At sunrise I saw
Tanned faces of fishermen
Among the flowers
Of white poppy.
I'll be in the other room, reading Rexroth's translations.
To be fair, I'm very glad someone took the time to get this into English of any quality.
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LibraryThing member Marse
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.
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The book includes a map of his route, and the poems in Japanese at the end of the book. Show Less
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
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.
LibraryThing member breathslow
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
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companions given occasionally alongside his own, all written at the same time, which helped build up a sense of the varied possibilities of haiku. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1694
Physical description
176 p.; 7.7 inches
ISBN
0140441859 / 9780140441857