The Narrow Road To The Deep North And Other Travel Sketches

Matsuo Basho has long been admired as the wandering poet and master of "haiku," the 5-7-5 syllable poetry style renowned among grade schoolers everywhere. The Narrow Road To The Deep North And Other Travel Sketches (1689) is a collection of poetry and other musings by Basho, who seems to have used his travels as inspiration  for his poetry about life on the road as well as the beauty he encounters on his travels. This collection is comprised of the following pieces: "The Records of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton," "The Visit to the Kashima Shrine," "The Records of a Travel-Worn Satchel," "A Visit to Sarashina Village," and "The Narrow Road To The Deep North." Travels to the wild untamed North are something of a trope in Japanese literature and Basho made several journeys to the North and found inspiration in the beauty of the untamed wilderness in the north. I decided to read his book as inspiration for my own journey North to the capital city, Sendai and surrounding sites. Many of the cities and villages that he visited still exist and many, like Ishinomaki, have become infamous for the vast destruction laud upon them by the Tsunami of 2011. One stop, Matsushima (one of Japan's three great views) is extolled by Basho as the most beautiful in all of Japan.