I will admit I was never a big fan of the Japanese haiku poet, Matsuo Basho. Haiku always eluded me as a writer and a reader, perhaps because the poems are so short and English translation does the original verse little justice. Basho is most famous for his haiku written during and after a long journey (800 miles) from Tokyo to Ogaki in the year 1689. He called his journey "On the Narrow Road to the North."
I first discovered this book when I got it for a birthday present some years ago, and upon rereading it this ear, I was enthralled by Lesley Downer's own story. Lesley is my opposite when it comes to Basho. She studied Haiku and Basho, and longed to trace the steps of the famed poet through Japan herself, to find his "narrow road." Her journey is a wonderfully insightful insight into what is along his road now and what was there then.
Reading Lesley's journey, I was hooked from page one, not just because of my own interest in Japan, but because her own shone through so well. I envy her ability to speak Japanese so well, and her gumption to take a journey like this alone through a very different land and culture. Lesley relates everything from misadventures to wondrous discoveries and the people she meets along the way are remarkable insights into the modern Japanese.
Along the way Lesley quotes some of Basho's poems and his own misadventures, and she even writes some haiku herself. She does lament that much of Basho's Japan is long gone, the country is prone to quick and decisive change and in her words the past is "preserved to the point that it no longer has any life in it."
This is a point I disagree, but I can also see its truth in some respect. At one point she stops at a beautiful valley village and is invited into the homes of people there. Basho had stopped there as well its seems, but the valley is due to be dammed up and flooded in a few years. Soon, all that she's witnessed and enjoyed will be underwater.
Lesley's journey in the footsteps of Basho reflects some of my own aspirations. After all, Basho was following in the footsteps of another legendary figure before him, the legendary samurai Yoshitsune. Lesley relates some of his story as well, and I could see myself as a writer or aspirant poet wanting to follow this man who was larger than life in Japanese history and lore. It is appreciated to see the viewpoint of an outsider when looking at Japan, and it is doubly appreciated when that person is knowledgeable but fully admits they're as much a novice as I can be. In the end, Lesley has her own wonderful journey and its one I thoroughly enjoyed.
Clocking in at 274 pages, "On the Narrow Road" is a must read for aficionado's of Basho and Haiku. It's also a good travelogue for Japan today, even though it was written in 1989. I imagine if I tried to follow Lesley's footsteps I would find much of what she saw is changed. Like any traveler though, it is the journey itself that matters. As Basho himself once said "travel is human life, life is a journey - there is no other way to find yourself."
Along the way Lesley quotes some of Basho's poems and his own misadventures, and she even writes some haiku herself. She does lament that much of Basho's Japan is long gone, the country is prone to quick and decisive change and in her words the past is "preserved to the point that it no longer has any life in it."
This is a point I disagree, but I can also see its truth in some respect. At one point she stops at a beautiful valley village and is invited into the homes of people there. Basho had stopped there as well its seems, but the valley is due to be dammed up and flooded in a few years. Soon, all that she's witnessed and enjoyed will be underwater.
Lesley's journey in the footsteps of Basho reflects some of my own aspirations. After all, Basho was following in the footsteps of another legendary figure before him, the legendary samurai Yoshitsune. Lesley relates some of his story as well, and I could see myself as a writer or aspirant poet wanting to follow this man who was larger than life in Japanese history and lore. It is appreciated to see the viewpoint of an outsider when looking at Japan, and it is doubly appreciated when that person is knowledgeable but fully admits they're as much a novice as I can be. In the end, Lesley has her own wonderful journey and its one I thoroughly enjoyed.
Clocking in at 274 pages, "On the Narrow Road" is a must read for aficionado's of Basho and Haiku. It's also a good travelogue for Japan today, even though it was written in 1989. I imagine if I tried to follow Lesley's footsteps I would find much of what she saw is changed. Like any traveler though, it is the journey itself that matters. As Basho himself once said "travel is human life, life is a journey - there is no other way to find yourself."