Narrow Road to the Interior

<b>A masterful translation of one of the most-loved classics of Japanese literature&#151;part travelogue part haiku collection part account of spiritual awakening</b><br><br> Bash&#333; (1644&#150;1694)&#151;a great luminary of Asian literature who elevated the haiku to an art form of utter simplicity and intense spiritual beauty&#151;is renowned in the West as the author of <i>Narrow Road to the Interior</i>&#160;a travel diary of linked prose and haiku recounting his journey through the far northern provinces of Japan.<br><br> This edition features a masterful translation of this celebrated work. It also includes an insightful introduction by translator Sam Hamill detailing Bash&#333;&#146;s life and the art of haiku three other important works by Bash&#333;&#151;<i>Travelogue of Weather</i>-<i>Beaten Bones</i> <i>The Knapsack Notebook</i>&#160;and <i>Sarashina Travelogue</i>&#151;and two hundred and fifty of his finest haiku making this the most complete single-volume collection of Bash&#333;&#146;s writings.