In the year we know as 1689, poet and teacher Matsuo Basho embarked on a 1500-mile walking tour of northern Honshu, Japan. Leaving his home in Edo, modern-day Tokyo, Basho and his traveling companion, Sora, explored the historical monuments, literary landmarks, religious shrines, and scenic wonders of the Tohoku hinterlands, places of deep cultural significance [utamakura] he had vicariously encountered in plays, poems, sagas, and songs. The poetic travel diary Basho published as his account of this trip, a book English-speakers know as The Narrow Road of the Interior*, secured his literary reputation for centuries so that a modern Japanesetourism industry enables fans of the book and the poet to recreate many segments of the famous journey for themselves.
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