Oku no Hosomichi , translated alternately as The Narrow Road to the Deep North and The Narrow Road to the Interior, is a major work of haibun by the Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, considered one of the major texts of Japanese literature of the Edo period.The text is written in the form of a prose and verse travel diary and was penned as Bashō made an epic and dangerous journey on foot through the Edo Japan of the late 17th century. While the poetic work became seminal of its own account, the poet's travels in the text have since inspired many people to follow in his footsteps and trace his journey for themselves. In one of its most memorable passages, Bashō suggests that "every day is a journey, and the journey itself home". The text was also influenced by the works of Du Fu, who was highly revered by Bashō.Of Oku no Hosomichi, Kenji Miyazawa once suggested, "It was as if the very soul of Japan had itself written it."
“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”
Matsuo Bashō, Narrow Road to the Interior and other writings, Boston, 2000, p. 3 (Translation: Sam Hamill)
Oku no Hosomichi
Variant: The journey itself is my home.
“How still it is!
Stinging into the stones,
The locusts' trill.”
静けさや
岩に滲み入る
蝉の声
shizukesaya
iwa ni shimiiru
semi no koe
Donald Keene, World Within Walls: Japanese Literature of the Pre-Modern Era, 1600-1867, New York, 1999, p. 89 (Translation: Donald Keene)
Oku no Hosomichi
“The summer grasses—
For many brave warriors
The aftermath of dreams.”
夏草や
兵どもが
夢の跡
natsukusa ya
tsuwamonodomo ga
yume no ato
Donald Keene, Travelers of a Hundred Ages, New York, 1999, p. 316 (Translation: Donald Keene)
The summer grasses—
Of brave soldiers' dreams
The aftermath.
Matsuo Bashō, The Narrow Road to Oku, Tokyo, 1996, p. 87 (Translation: Donald Keene)
Also: Classical Japanese Database, Translation #222 http://carlsensei.com/classical/index.php/translation/view/222
Oku no Hosomichi
“Spring passes
and the birds cry out—tears
in the eyes of fishes”
行く春や
鳥啼き魚の
目は泪
yuku haru ya
tori naki uo no
me wa namida
Matsuo Bashō, Narrow Road to the Interior and other writings, Boston, 2000, p. 4 (Translation: Sam Hamill)
Spring is passing by!
Birds are weeping and the eyes
Of fish fill with tears.
Matsuo Bashō, The Narrow Road to Oku, Tokyo, 1996, p. 23 (Translation: Donald Keene)
The passing of spring—
The birds weep and in the eyes
Of fish there are tears.
Donald Keene, Travelers of a Hundred Ages, New York, 1999, p. 310 (Translation: Donald Keene)
Oku no Hosomichi
