On the Narrow Road to the Deep North: Journey into a lost Japan

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.