bMatsuo Bashob 1644-94 is considered Japan's greatest haiku poet. iNarrow Road to the Interioribr Oku no Hosomichi is his masterpiece. Ostensibly a chronological braccount of the poet's five-month journey in 1689 into the deep country brnorth and west of the old capital, Edo, the work is in fact artful and brcarefully sculpted, rich in literary and Zen allusion and filled with brgreat insights and vital rhythms. In iBasho's Narrow Road Spring and Autumn Passagesi, br poet and translator Hiroaki Sato presents the complete work in English brand examines the threads of history, geography, philosophy, and brliterature that are woven into Basho's exposition. He details in brparticular the extent to which Basho relied on the community of writers brwith whom he traveled and joined in linked verse renga poetry brsessions, an example of which, iA Farewell Gift to Sorai, is brincluded in this volume. In explaining how and why Basho made the brliterary choices he did, Sato shows how the poet was