Back Roads to Far Towns: Basho's Travel Journal

by Matsuo Bashō and Basho Matsuo

Book Overview

'It was with awe That I beheld Fresh leaves, green leaves, Bright in the sun' In his perfectly crafted haiku poems, Basho described the natural world with great simplicity and delicacy of feeling.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 189399631X
• ISBN13: 9781893996311
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: White Pine Press (NY)
• Length: 93 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Japanartese

The book was very much to my liking and provided haiku and excellent illustrations of places we recently visited in Japan. If you are looking for a story or novel then this book is not for you,but for Japanese poems and illustrations it is just right.

Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home...

As an English teacher in Japan on and off for the past 20 years, I am always asked, on meeting new students, why I came to Japan. The answer, for me, is simple: this book. You see, as a college senior, I found myself drifting in no direction, with no roots or life plan. A slacker? Perhaps. But as I studied for my last final exam, I stood to ward off sleep, stretched, and wandered aimlessly through the library stacks until I found myself immersed, by chance mind you, in the Japanese poetry section. I took out the first volume I saw, Basho's classic Narrow Road to the Deep North: I was hooked from the first line. Is this story important? I think so. For, in all honesty, this "little book" changed my life - it really is THAT good! Although this 17th century text is obstensibly a travel diary of prose poems and haiku gathered from Basho's peripatetic wanderings through nothern Tokugawa Era Japan, the "narrow road to the deep north" is merely a metaphor for our own, personal inward journey...and it was, for me, an epiphany. My dream, from that moment on was to move to Japan, study kanji, and ultimately read Narrow Road's original text. (Having accomplished my goal, I must admit I find this translation to be inferior to, say, The Narrow Road to Oku, translated by Donald Keene.) Still, this penguin version (with a new cover, no less) remains a sentimental favorite, if for nothing else, its wonderfully clear, no nonesense approach to Basho. Thus, I strongly recommend it for its psychological depth (belied by a disarming stark surface simplicity). I think that even readers with ZERO knowledge of Japan, haiku, or Buddhism (like me, years back) will find that Basho's profound and spare use of words strike - like a temple bell at dusk - at something deep inside, something universal. Buy it today!

Simply beautiful

"The Narrow Road to Oku" is about as close to perfection as one can get. First you have Matsuo Basho, Japan's greatest poet, chronicling his hundred and fifty day journey into Oku to visit the grave of his mother, who had died the previous year. Translating this masterpiece is Donald Keene, possibly the greatest modern interpreter and translator of the Japanese mind. If this wasn't enough, Miyata Masayuki has taken Basho's poetry and created stunning works of Kiri-e, torn paper art, that provides a visual to match the written imagery. "The Narrow Road to Oku" was the last of Basho's five travelogues, and he finally attained the essential balance between observation and inspiration, between prose and poetry. Along the narrow road he and his traveling companion, student Kawai Sora, experienced the highs and lows of ancient Japan. The Tokugawa Shrine at Nikko, the famed Bridge of Heaven at Matsushima and the ancient Ise Shrine were all stops on this fantastic voyage. As well as these wonders, he encountered poor prostitutes and fishermen, giving them equal time to his poetic genius. Miyata Masayuki, as he has with other books in this series such as "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" and "Love Songs from the Man'Yoshu," has created delightful and whimsical artwork that enhances rather than distracts from Basho's musings. There is a hint of Ukiyo-e in his style, but not enough to consider it redundant. The art is fresh and lively. sometimes powerful and bittersweet. The original Japanese text is preserved alongside Keene's translation, which I think is essential of a work of this type. "The Narrow Road to Oku" is 100% authentic, and 100% beautiful. Definitely a treasure in my library.

Enjoyable.

A book with five autobiographical travels, three of them being his expectant last journey of life, with required farwell party etc., of Basho with haiku injected by the author, his traveling companions, or persons met along the way. It was quite an interesting read on culture and the way of life in Japan during Basho's day. The book was satisfying and interesting as a travel journal and for a taste of Basho's personality and of the cultural mores of Japanese feudal society. A sense of the Japanese appreciation of nature and of symbols in nature was also conveyed. Haiku seems to embody something beyond words, natural symbols that we observe everyday captured; a sometimes great ineffable meaning in the mundane. Some of the poetry was good, as far as the translation communicated, however quite a lot also seemed lost in translation that might have been expounded upon. Yuasa Noboyuki, the translator, and writer of the forward, might have done better by talking about these difficulties and that might have brought some light to many of the haikus. The translating haiku with all of the original sense is almost impossible, so I have been told. I also have been told that Ezra Pound expounded, someplace, on just how impossible translating haiku into English is. Noboyuki might have done better to expound on his difficulties translating Japanese haiku into English and his futile attempts to convey the totality of the haiku, which could have raised the vibrancy of some of them; it was vague effort that he included in talking about this aspect. The poems were charming, as were the autobiographical travel stories of Basho. A good read.

Love of Nature and Passion for the Written Word

With the pressures and obligations that are present in today's fast paced world, it is important to enjoy life in all of its simplicity. The master Haiku poet, Basho, lived in Japan during the late 1600's. Born into a noble class, he felt his life was more fulfilled living as a simple peasant. Valued for his inability to distinguish the difference between economic barriers, he was well respected and highly sought after as a teacher. The 1000 Mile PilgrimageTravel and nature were very much a part of his life. During the spring of his 46th year, Basho set off on a 1,000 mile pilgrimage. Travelling by horse and on foot, he bathed in cool streams and rested in fragrant meadows. His amazing journeys are recorded in several journals and haiku collections called Back Roads to Far Towns and The Narrow Road to the Deep North. His philosophy was simple. Everything he needed to know about life was learned from nature When he came upon a little violet hiding shyly in the grass on a mountain pathway, it whispered it's secret to him. "Modesty, gentleness and simplicity," it said, "these are truly beautiful things." Glistening drops of dew on a flower had words of wisdom for him as well, "Purity is the loveliest thing in life", they said. Basho once wrote, "Real poetry is to lead a beautiful life. To live poetry is better than to write it". Everyone who reads Basho's words will take away something different. Enjoying nature, the ability to look beyond social boundaries and living a simple life make Basho's writing an encouraging and pleasant way to meditate on what life has to offer. "The months and days are wayfarers of a hundred generations, and the years that come and go are also travelers. Those who float all of their lives on a boat, or reach their old age leading a horse by the bit make travel out of each day, and out of each day their life is made." ....Basho