Tag: Tokyo

“In 1680, Bashō left Nihonbashi in Edo (as Tokyo was then known), to live in a thatched cottage in Fukugawa, some distance away from Nihonbashi, the center of the city. At that time, Fukugawa was a quiet, swampy area, and the Bashō (banana) tree planted by one of his disciples grew so luxuriantly that his cottage was known as the “Bashō-an” and Bashō became his pen name.

Living in Fukugawa, or using it as a base for his journeys around Japan, Bashō established the present form of the haiku, producing many excellent works by which the haiku, until then regarded primarily as an entertaining pastime, gained acceptance as a major literary genre.. It was also in Fukugawa that Bashō sat down to write most of his travel journals, including his most famous one, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.”

Excerpt from the single page handout at the Bashō Memorial Museum in Fukugawa, Tokyo, the only English text available.

Before setting off on the three thousand mile journey related in “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”, Bashō reflects:

“Days and months are travelers of eternity. So are the years that pass by. Those who steer a boat across the sea, or drive a horse over the earth till they succumb to the weight of years, spend every minute of their lives traveling. There are a great number of ancients too, who died on the road. I myself have been tempted for a long time by the cloud-moving wind–filled with a strong desire to wander.”

Bashō, The Narrow Road to the Deep North

I’ll add, citing a tee-shirt gifted to me by my loved ones, that I wore until it disintegrated, “not all who wander are lost”.

Life is good.

Walking Project 104_visit to the poet – Tokyo from chris worland on Vimeo.