Narrow Road to the Interior

<b>A masterful translation of one of the most-loved classics of Japanese literature--part travelogue part haiku collection part account of spiritual awakening</b> <p/> Bashō (1644-1694)--a great luminary of Asian literature who elevated the haiku to an art form of utter simplicity and intense spiritual beauty--is renowned in the West as the author of <i>Narrow Road to the Interior</i> a travel diary of linked prose and haiku recounting his journey through the far northern provinces of Japan. <p/> This edition features a masterful translation of this celebrated work. It also includes an insightful introduction by translator Sam Hamill detailing Bashō's life and the art of haiku three other important works by Bashō--<i>Travelogue of Weather</i>-<i>Beaten Bones</i> <i>The Knapsack Notebook</i> and <i>Sarashina Travelogue</i>--and two hundred and fifty of his finest haiku making this the most complete single-volume collection of Bashō's writings.