Basho’s journal, Narrow Road to a Far Province, describes

a path on Natagiri Pass that is still used by travelers today.

1 In May 1689, accompanied by his friend and

follower Sora and carrying only a backpack,
I have arrived in Tokyo to begin my travels
writing materials, and clothes, Japanese
north. We are received by Mr. Ichihara of the
poet Matsuo Basho walked for five months
Oku no Hosomichi network in his library and
5 through the villages and mountains of Japan.
30 office near the Sumidagawa River where Basho,
This journey resulted in his great work, Oku no
Sora, and a few friends in a boat commenced
Hosomichi or Narrow Road to a Far Province.
their journey from Edo on May 16, 1689.
“It was as if the very soul of Japan had itself
Dressed in traditional Japanese clothes,
written it,” said the early 20th-century Buddhist
Mr. Ichihara bows. He has an open, friendly
10 poet Miyazawa Kenji. Today, thousands of
35 manner and a contagious intensity of spirit.
people visit the place of Basho’s birth, see the
“Look!” Mr. Ichihara rubs the stomach of
shrine1 where he is buried, and travel parts of
Basho’s statue. “He was a little chubby2 when
the trail he walked. Over 300 years later, writer
he set out. You’ll see, in the statues of him at
Howard Norman and National Geographic
the end of the Oku no Hosomichi he looks
15 photographer Michael Yamashita decided to
40 thin and tired, and yet full of knowledge and
follow Basho’s route. Here are extracts from
joy—and sadness, which all makes sense.”
Norman’s diary of the journey.
We enjoy a nice Japanese dinner. Early in the
Basho’s masterpiece begins, “Each day is a
evening I hire a boat, which slowly navigates the
journey, and the journey itself home.” His words
Sumidagawa River almost to Tokyo Bay—Basho’s
20 are on my mind as I prepare to walk in the
45 path. We pass under the river’s many famous
footsteps of this great poet, along his narrow
bridges, some dating back to Basho’s time, and
road—the 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile) path
we turn around at the fish market. It is dark
he followed through Japan over 300 years ago.
now. How could Basho, writing in 1689, have
I, too, have brought writing materials and will
imagined the ten million lights of Tokyo—or
25 keep a journal of my impressions along the way.
50 finding it difficult to see the stars because of them?
1
 shrine is a religious place or structure that is associated with a particular person or object.
A
2
A chubby person is somewhat fat. 1A A Writer’s Journey 11

Many people arrive at Matsushima on ferries.
The ferries sail past Niwo Island, whose shape
55 resembles a submarine, then past Kane Island
with its four water tunnels, and others. Moments
off our own ferry, looking around at the shops,
hotels, and restaurants of Matsushima, my guide
declares that the town is unpleasant to look at.
60 “Too much concrete,” he says.
To escape present-day reality (and daydream
of the past), I sit down on a bench and read
how Basho described Matsushima:
“Now, though it’s been only too often
65 observed, Matsushima presents a
magnificent vista3 . . . All sorts of islands
gather here, steep ones pointing to sky,
others creeping4 upon waves. Or some
are piled double on each other, or even
70 triple, and some divided at one end and
overlapping at the other. Some bear others
on their backs; some seem to embrace
them, as if caressing5 their offspring6 . . .
The feeling: one of intense beauty . . .”
12 Unit 1 Words and Pictures
A statue of Basho stands outside a temple in Hiraizumi, Japan.
A fisherman, carrying a long bamboo rod, stands
in the Mogami River, Japan. Basho wrote a poem
about the fast-flowing water of this river.
75
We cross the Umikawa and Himekawa Rivers
where they run into the sea. Basho called this
region “the most perilous7 place in the north.”
80 Today there’s a road, of course, high up along
the steep cliffs with concrete supports and wire
netting to keep the rocks from crashing down.
But the names of the passes retain their old
warnings, such as koma gaeshi, which means
85 “send back your horses.” What happened here?
Basically, about 800 years ago a woman tried
to flee from a powerful official with her small
child along the cliffs. Crashing waves threw
them into the sea. Someone observed this
90 and reported that at one terrible moment the
currents tore the woman from her child, and
suddenly they were pulled in opposite
directions, then drowned. It is the saddest
place I’ve ever been.
3
 vista is a view from a particular place, especially a beautiful
A
view from a high place.
4
To creep somewhere means to move there quietly and slowly.
5
If you caress someone or something, you stroke them gently
and affectionately.
6
You can refer to a person’s children or to an animal’s young
as their offspring.
7
Something that is perilous is very dangerous.

95
Today along the Nagara River I watch
how three fishermen in wooden boats have
tightened string “necklaces” around six
cormorants’ necks. Cormorants are birds that
100 can be trained to dive and catch fish, which
the fishermen retrieve by reaching into the
cormorants’ throats. This demonstration of an
age-old fishing technique is both for tourists
and to feed their families. I watch this for an
105 hour or so, until finally the cormorants are fed
the fish they themselves caught!
We are anxious to get to Genjyu-an, the peaceful
shrine near Lake Biwa where Basho’s remains
lie. A man steps from the modest gift shop to
110 show us the grave itself. Incense is burning. In
the small pond there are two turtles. I dip the
long-handled wooden dipper in a bucket and
pour water over the gravestone.8 The basho
tree (a kind of banana tree from which the poet
115 took his name) is flowering. There is the song
of insects and, as if welcoming the evening, the
cry of a bird. The train station is close by; there
are noises of car traffic, students on bicycles, and
crowded streets.
Pine, rock, and sea form a beautiful view along the Sea of Japan.
120 I see the man closing up shop. He notices
that I am still there. “It’s good to say a prayer.
It’s up to you which one.” He bows to me,
and then bows to the gravestone. “I’ll wait
to lock the gate.”
125 In the centuries since his death, Basho has
become many things to many people—wise
man, outsider artist, wanderer, and, above
all, a great poet. His Narrow Road contains
humor (even about himself), details of his
130 trip, religious wisdom, artistic descriptions,
and even complaints. At the same time, his
book provides a kind of timeless spiritual map
for the traveler. Linguist Helen Tanizaki once
described Basho this way: “He’s like a quirky9
135 philosopher tour-guide who pretty much leaves
readers alone to experience traveling in those
remote places for themselves.”
8
 gravestone is a stone that marks a grave, the place
A
where a dead person is buried.
9
Something or someone that is quirky is odd or
unpredictable in appearance, character, or behavior.
1A A Writer’s Journey 13