Narrow Road to the Interior

A masterful translation of one of the most-loved classics of Japanese literature-part travelogue, part haiku collection, part account of spiritual awakening

Basho (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 Narrow Road to the Interior, a travel diary of linked prose and haiku recounting his journey through the far northern provinces of Japan.

This edition features a masterful translation of this celebrated work. It also includes an insightful introduction by translator Sam Hamill detailing Basho's life and the art of haiku, three other important works by Basho-Travelogue of Weather-Beaten Bones, The Knapsack Notebook, and Sarashina Travelogue-and two hundred and fifty of his finest haiku, making this the most complete single-volume collection of Basho's writings.