Oku no Hosomichi

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Hosomichi

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Matsuo Basho

^ Oku no Hosomichi £

tS By Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) 3

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J2 O/cu no Hosomichi (meaning Narrow Road to Oku [the Deep North]) is a major g

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work by Matsuo Basho.

Oku no Hosomichi was written based on a journey taken by Basho in the late
spring of 1689. He and his traveling companion Sora departed from Edo (modern-
day Tokyo) for the northerly interior region known as Oku, propelled mostly by a
desire to see the places about which the old poets wrote. Travel in those days
was, of course, very dangerous to one's health, but Basho was committed to a
kind of poetic ideal of wandering. He travelled for about 156 days all together,
covering thousands of miles mostly on foot. Of all of Basho's works, Oku no
Hosomichi is best known. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Read in Japanese by kaseumin. Total running time: 01:08:21

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Cover picture by Toyohara Chikanobu (1898). Copyright expired in U.S., Canada, EL), and
all countries with author's life +70 yrs laws. Cover design by Janette Brown. This design is g>
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