Narrow Road to the Interior: And Other Writings

by Matsuo Basho, Sam Hamill (Translator), Stephen Addiss (Illustrator)

Overview

A masterful translation of one of the most-loved classics of Japanese literature—part travelogue, part haiku collection, part account of spiritual awakening

Bashō (1644–1694)—a great luminary of Asian literature who elevated the haiku to an art form of utter simplicity and intense spiritual beauty—is renowned in the West as the author of Narrow Road to the Interior, a travel diary of linked prose and haiku recounting his journey through the far northern provinces of Japan.

This edition features a masterful translation of this celebrated work. It also includes an insightful introduction by translator Sam Hamill detailing Bashō’s life and the art of haiku, three other important works by Bashō—Travelogue of Weather-Beaten Bones, The Knapsack Notebook, and Sarashina Travelogue—and two hundred and fifty of his finest haiku, making this the most complete single-volume collection of Bashō’s writings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780834824935
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	11/14/2006
Series:	Shambhala Classics
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	136
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Basho (1644–1694)—the most revered poet of Japanese literature—is best known in the West as the author of Narrow Road to the Interior, a travel diary of his journey through northern Japan. Basho elevated the haiku to an art form of utter simplicity and intense spiritual beauty. His travel diaries of linked prose and haiku created a new genre of writing that inspired generations of Japanese poets.

Read an Excerpt

From Narrow Road to the Interior

The sun and moon are eternal travelers. Even the years wander on. A lifetime adrift in a boat, or in old age leading a tired horse into the years, everyday is a journey, and the journey itself is home. From the earliest times there have always been some who perished along the road. Still I have always been drawn by windblown clouds into dreams of a lifetime of wandering. Coming home from a year's walking tour off the coast last autumn, I swept the cobwebs from my hut on the banks of the Sumida just in time for New Year, but by the time spring mists began to rise in the fields, I longed to cross the Shirakawa Barrier into the Northern Interior. Drawn by the wanderer-spirit Dōsojin, I couldn't concentrate on things. Mending my cotton pants, sewing a new strap on my bamboo hat, I daydreamed. Rubbing moxa into my legs to strengthen them, I daydreamed a bright moon rising over Matsushima. So I placed my house in another's hands and moved to my patron Mr. Sampū's summer house in preparation for my journey. And I left a verse by my door:

Even this grass hut
may be transformed
into a doll's house

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"One of the undisputed masterpieces of Japanese Literature. . . . Hamill achieves a kind of luminosity of language that I find unparalleled in other translations of this work."—Burton Watson, Columbia University

"Lucid and engaging, this translation, a gift of careful attention, does not separate poetry from spiritual practice. Basho becomes our guide on the way of insight. Such is the magic of a fine translation."—Margaret Gibson, Tricycle

Editorial Reviews

"One of the undisputed masterpieces of Japanese Literature. . . . Hamill achieves a kind of luminosity of language that I find unparalleled in other translations of this work."—Burton Watson, Columbia University



"Lucid and engaging, this translation, a gift of careful attention, does not separate poetry from spiritual practice. Basho becomes our guide on the way of insight. Such is the magic of a fine translation."—Margaret Gibson, Tricycle

From the Publisher