A review by ryderstanley
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Matsuo Bashō

3.0

This book disappointed me. I really wanted to love it, I did, and I thought I would considering I really liked the collection from Saigyo I read and Basho was heavily influenced by him. It's not bad, I wouldn't go that far, but it's certainly not special and I don't see why Basho is often representative of Japanese Poetry as a whole. There are definitely a few beautiful poems in here, but the majority of the book is prose which, apart from a few lines, was bland and uninteresting. None of the poems made me feel anything beyond a vague sense of nostalgia at the rustic scenes, but there was no real emotional impact beyond that. Overall, it was fine, but not something I would recommend picking up if you want to get into Japanese Poetry.