On the Narrow Road to the Deep North

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Product Information

ISBN9781780602301
AuthorsLesley Chan Downer
PublisherEland Publishing Ltd
FormatPaperback
Number of pages288
Weight (kg)0.318
Publishing Date03/10/2024
Price (excl. tax)€18.77
Tax€1.13
Price (incl. tax)€19.90
Availability2 units in external warehouse

Product Description

Lesley Chan Downer retraces Basho’s pilgrimage through Japan, blending travel, haiku, and contemporary reflections.After eight years working in Japan, immersing herself in its language and literature, Lesley Chan Downer set off in the footsteps of Matsuo Basho, Japan’s most cherished poet, to explore the country’s remote northern provinces. Basho’s pilgrimage to find the landscapes that had inspired the great medieval poets gave birth to Japan’s most famous travel book, rich in strange imagery and sometimes comic encounters along the road. In this intriguing cross-threading of journeys, perceptions and exquisite haiku, Lesley creates her own funny, loving and honest portrayal of contemporary Japan. As she walks, she finds at one and the same time a drab post-industrial landscape of concrete and cable, but also a land still full of the old enchantments. Nights in thatched highland villages and sake-drenched poetry sessions encourage her to see for herself if any of the legendary hermit-priests still survive in the sacred mountains of the north.