Read this when
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Feeling rushed and older than you thought you'd be? In 1689, a 45-year-old poet sold his home and started walking. Summer grass, cicadas, and a lot of letting go.
Who it's for
Bashō, in his mid-forties and in fragile health, gives away his home and sets out on foot through northern Japan knowing he may not return, which makes the whole journey a meditation on time and mortality.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Oku no Hosomichi is Matsuo Bashō's poetic travel diary of a journey he made largely on foot through northern Japan in 1689 with his companion Kawai Sora. Written in haibun, a blend of prose and haiku, it records sites such as Nikkō, the Shirakawa barrier, Matsushima and Hiraizumi. Bashō refined the text for years, and it was published posthumously in 1702.
Where to find it
In print in several translations: Donald Keene ('The Narrow Road to Oku', 1996), Sam Hamill ('Narrow Road to the Interior', 1991) and Nobuyuki Yuasa (Penguin, 'The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Ot.
Before you start
Heads up: Gentle themes of aging and illness.
Age: Ages 12+
Death belongs to life as birth does.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds
