"Oku no Hosomichi (meaning Narrow Road to Oku [the Deep North]) is a major work by Matsuo Bash?.
Oku no Hosomichi was written based on a journey taken by Bash? in the late spring of 1689. He and his traveling companion Sora departed from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) for the northerly interior region known as Oku, propelled mostly by a desire to see the places about which the old poets wrote. Travel in those days was, of course, very dangerous to one's health, but Bash? was committed to a kind of poetic ideal of wandering. He travelled for about 156 days all together, covering thousands of miles mostly on foot. Of all of Bash?'s works, Oku no Hosomichi is best known. (Summary from Wikipedia)"
"Japanese poetry is well-known for its clarity and concision, and Narrow Road to the Interior and H?j?ki are two of the best-loved, and most intensely Japanese, works of their kind; famous for their beautiful, delicate verse and subtle insight into the human condition. It has been said of Narrow Road that 'it was as if the very soul of Japan had itself written it'. It takes the form of a travel diary, and traces the poet's journey from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to the northern interior. H?j?ki, a much earlier work written by Ch?mei, a Buddhist hermit, is essentially a meditation on the transience of the world. Read by the famous classical Japanese actor Togo Igawa, the full beauty of its ancient cadences and rhythms is drawn out. Also includes detailed notes on Narrow Road to the Interior, on CD-ROM."
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