BENRIDO Decorative Folding Screen "The Narrow Road through the Provinces"

◆  Oku no Hosomichi (The Narrow Road through the Provinces)◆

By Yosa Buson. Edo Period, 18th Century (Year 1778) 
Property of Kyoto National Museum 

The text comes from the famous travelogue Oku no hosomichi by the haiku poet Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694). It describes the poet’s epic journey on foot through north-eastern Japan and was written in form of verse and prose. For this set of handscrolls, Buson copied its text and added his own illustrations.

Oku no Hosomichi "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" is a major work of haibun by the Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, considered one of the major texts of Japanese literature of the Edo period. The text is written in the form of a prose and verse travel diary and was penned as Bashō made an epic and dangerous journey on foot through the Edo Japan of the late 17th century. While the poetic work became seminal of its own account, the poet's travels in the text have since inspired many people to follow in his footsteps and trace his journey for themselves. In one of its most memorable passages, Bashō suggests that "every day is a journey, and the journey itself home".

Dimensions: 38.0×95.2cm