The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches'It was with awe That I beheld Fresh leaves, green leaves, Bright in the sun' In his perfectly crafted haiku poems, Basho described the natural world with great simplicity and delicacy of feeling. When he composed The Narrow Road to the Deep North, he was an ardent student of Zen Buddhism, setting off on a series of travels designed to strip away the trappings of the material world and bring spiritual enlightenment. He wrote of the seasons changin, of the smells of the rain, the brightness of the moon, and beauty of the waterfall, through which he sense mysteries of the universe. There’s seventeenth-century travel writing not only chronicle Basho's perilous journeys through Japan, but they also capture his vision of eternity in the transient world around him. In his lucid translation Nobuyuki Yuasa captures the Lyrical qualities of Basho's poetry and prose by using the natural rhythms and language of the contemporary speech. IN his introduction, he examines the development of the haibun style in which poetry and prose stand side by side. this edition also includes maps and notes on the texts. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. |
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ancient poets Atsuta Shrine autumn wind bamboo barrier-gate Bashō Bashō is referring Bashō wrote beauty boat bush-clover called cherry blossoms clouds dark Deep North disciples early Etsujin example flowers following poem full moon gate grass Haguro haiku Heian period hermitage hokku horse Irago irregular form Ise Shrine Kamakura period Kashima Shrine Kisagata Kūkai Kyorai Kyōto leaves linked verse linking technique Lord Major Anthologies miles mind morning Mount Fuji Mount Gassan Mount Shirane Mount Tsukuba mountains Muromachi period Nagoya Nara Narrow Road night Ōgaki Ōsaka passed pen name Penguin Books pine tree plum poetry Prefecture priest prose province rain Records rocks Saga Saigyō Sarashina Village scene Shū Sõgi Sõin Sora spring starting piece style summer Teishitsu Teitoku temple town Travel-worn Satchel verse is taken visited walked wandering Weather-exposed Skeleton write to Penguin Written by Sora Written by Tōsei Yoshino