Bashō's Journey

Author: Matsuo Bashō
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791483436
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Book Description
In Bashō's Journey, David Landis Barnhill provides the definitive translation of Matsuo Bashō's literary prose, as well as a companion piece to his previous translation, Bashō's Haiku. One of the world's greatest nature writers, Bashō (1644–1694) is well known for his subtle sensitivity to the natural world, and his writings have influenced contemporary American environmental writers such as Gretel Ehrlich, John Elder, and Gary Snyder. This volume concentrates on Bashō's travel journal, literary diary (Saga Diary), and haibun. The premiere form of literary prose in medieval Japan, the travel journal described the uncertainty and occasional humor of traveling, appreciations of nature, and encounters with areas rich in cultural history. Haiku poetry often accompanied the prose. The literary diary also had a long history, with a format similar to the travel journal but with a focus on the place where the poet was living. Bashō was the first master of haibun, short poetic prose sketches that usually included haiku. As he did in Bashō's Haiku, Barnhill arranges the work chronologically in order to show Bashō's development as a writer. These accessible translations capture the spirit of the original Japanese prose, permitting the nature images to hint at the deeper meaning in the work. Barnhill's introduction presents an overview of Bashō's prose and discusses the significance of nature in this literary form, while also noting Bashō's significance to contemporary American literature and environmental thought. Excellent notes clearly annotate the translations.

Bashō's Haiku

Author: Matsuo Bashō
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791484653
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 346

Book Description
2005 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Basho's Haiku offers the most comprehensive translation yet of the poetry of Japanese writer Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694), who is credited with perfecting and popularizing the haiku form of poetry. One of the most widely read Japanese writers, both within his own country and worldwide, Bashō is especially beloved by those who appreciate nature and those who practice Zen Buddhism. Born into the samurai class, Bashō rejected that world after the death of his master and became a wandering poet and teacher. During his travels across Japan, he became a lay Zen monk and studied history and classical poetry. His poems contained a mystical quality and expressed universal themes through simple images from the natural world. David Landis Barnhill's brilliant book strives for literal translations of Bashō's work, arranged chronologically in order to show Bashō's development as a writer. Avoiding wordy and explanatory translations, Barnhill captures the brevity and vitality of the original Japanese, letting the images suggest the depth of meaning involved. Barnhill also presents an overview of haiku poetry and analyzes the significance of nature in this literary form, while suggesting the importance of Bashō to contemporary American literature and environmental thought.

奥の細道

Author: 松尾芭蕉
Publisher: Kodansha
ISBN: 9784770028587
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 150

Book Description
Many glimpses into daily life and culture are contained in the journal entries and haiku that record the 17th-century Japanese poet's impressions of his journey to the northern province of Honshu. This newly illustrated edition features sumi-e ink sketches by Shiro Tsujimura. The original Japanese text follows the translation. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches

Author: Matsuo Basho
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141913657
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 145

Book Description
'It was with awe That I beheld Fresh leaves, green leaves, Bright in the sun' When the Japanese haiku master Basho 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 writes of the seasons changing, 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 writings not only chronicle Basho's travels, but they also capture his vision of eternity in the transient world around him. Translated with an Introduction by Nobuyuki Yuasa

Narrow Road to the Interior

Author: Bashō Matsuo
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0877736448
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
Matsuo Basho was the greatest of the Japanese haiku poets, whose genius elevated the haiku to an art form of intense spiritual beauty. This, one of the most revered classics of Japanese literature, is a diary of Basho's journey to the northern interior of Japan.

Basho's Narrow Road

Author: Matsuo Basho
Publisher: Stone Bridge Press, Inc.
ISBN: 1611725275
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
A stimulating exploration of the haiku masterpiece. Matsuo Basho (1644-94) is considered Japan's greatest haiku poet. Narrow Road to the Interior (Oku no Hosomichi) is his masterpiece. Ostensibly a chronological account of the poet's five-month journey in 1689 into the deep country north and west of the old capital, Edo, the work is in fact artful and carefully sculpted, rich in literary and Zen allusion and filled with great insights and vital rhythms. In Basho's Narrow Road: Spring and Autumn Passages, poet and translator Hiroaki Sato presents the complete work in English and examines the threads of history, geography, philosophy, and literature that are woven into Basho's exposition. He details in particular the extent to which Basho relied on the community of writers with whom he traveled and joined in linked verse (renga) poetry sessions, an example of which, A Farewell Gift to Sora, is included in this volume. In explaining how and why Basho made the literary choices he did, Sato shows how the poet was able to transform his passing observations into words that resonate across time and culture.

Grass Sandals

Author: Dawnine Spivak
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9781442409361
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Follow the travels of 17th century Japanese poet, Basho, through the beautiful and immersive writing of Dawnine Spivak paired with vivid illustrations by Demi. Grass Sandals is the story of Basho—one of the best-loved poets in the history of Japan—and his journeys on foot around his home. Simple and observant, this book gives glimpses into the ancient culture of Japan, as well as a sense of what it is to be a poet, as the people and experiences that Basho enjoys find their way into his haiku. Children will be charmed by Basho’s walking journey, his tenderness and scant belongings, and his attention to the small details of life.

Bashō's Ghost

Author: Sam Hamill
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 156

Book Description

On the Narrow Road to the Deep North

Author: Lesley Chan Downer
Publisher: Eland Publishing
ISBN: 9781780602301
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
After eight years working in Japan, immersing herself in its language and literature, Lesley Chan Downer set off in the footsteps of Matsuo Basho, Japan's most cherished poet, to explore the country's remote northern provinces. Basho's pilgrimage to find the landscapes that had inspired the great medieval poets gave birth to Japan's most famous travel book, rich in strange imagery and sometimes comic encounters along the road. In this intriguing cross-threading of journeys, perceptions and exquisite haiku, Lesley creates her own funny, loving and honest portrayal of contemporary Japan. As she walks, she finds at one and the same time a drab post-industrial landscape of concrete and cable, but also a land still full of the old enchantments. Nights in thatched highland villages and sake-drenched poetry sessions encourage her to see for herself if any of the legendary hermit-priests still survive in the sacred mountains of the north.

On Love and Barley

Author: Matsuo Basho
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141907770
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 81

Book Description
Basho, one of the greatest of Japanese poets and the master of haiku, was also a Buddhist monk and a life-long traveller. His poems combine 'karumi', or lightness of touch, with the Zen ideal of oneness with creation. Each poem evokes the natural world - the cherry blossom, the leaping frog, the summer moon or the winter snow - suggesting the smallness of human life in comparison to the vastness and drama of nature. Basho himself enjoyed solitude and a life free from possessions, and his haiku are the work of an observant eye and a meditative mind, uncluttered by materialism and alive to the beauty of the world around him.