BASHO, MATSUO (1644 - 1694)
BASHO, MATSUO (1644 - 1694)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches, 1966 [sold-verkocht]
BASHO, MATSUO (1644 - 1694)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches
Penguin Books, Harmondsworth. 1996. First edition. Paperback (softcover). 167 pp. 11 x 18 x ¾ cm. 114 gr. Translated from the Japanese with an introduction by Nobuyuki Yuasa. Penguin Classics L 185. The cover shows a detail of a portrait of Basho, in the Osaka Museum. This volume contains five travel sketches written, in later life, by the Japanes haiku poet. Basho's genius has alreade given new freedom and energy to the strict haiku form of seventeen syllabes, elevating it to a level of miniature perfection. Zen Buddhisme was a leading influence in the school of poetry he founded. His journeys through Japan are recorded in linked prose and verse, and the title piece of these sketches is a bid by the poet to discover a vision of eternity in nature and the ephemeral world about him. 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 a serious 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 changing, of the smell of the rain, the brightness of the moon and the beauty of the waterfall, through which he sensed the mysteries of the universe. These travel writings not only chronicle Basho's perilous journeys through Japan, but they also capture his vision of eternity in the transient world around him. Pages tanned. No inscriptions. A clean thight copy.
Booknumber: 16217
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