Basho (1644?1694)?the most revered poet of Japanese literature?is best known in the West as the author of Narrow Road to the Interior, a travel diary of his journey through northern Japan. Basho elevated the haiku to an art form of utter simplicity and intense spiritual beauty. His travel diaries of linked prose and haiku created a new genre of writing that inspired generations of Japanese poets.

A beautiful translation of one of the most-loved classics of Japanese literature.
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.