The Literature of Travel

           

Write about one aspect of the reading(s) that

interested you. This can include making

personal connections with the reading(s) or

making creative connections to other course

texts or to material outside the course. Your

blog entry must be at least 250 words.

    What interested me the most about Basho was that despite his success, Basho grew dissatisfied and lonely. He began to practice Zen meditation, but it seems not to have calmed his mind. In the winter of 1682 his hut burned down, and shortly afterwards, in early 1683, his mother died. He then traveled to Yamura, to stay with a friend. In the winter of 1683 his disciples gave him a second hut in Edo, but his spirits did not improve.

    In 1684 his disciple Takari Kikaku published a compilation of him and other poets. Later that year he left Edo on the first of four major wanderings. Traveling in medieval Japan was immensely dangerous, and at first Bashō expected to simply die in the middle of nowhere or be killed by bandits. As the trip progressed, his mood improved and he became comfortable on the road. He met many friends and grew to enjoy the changing scenery and the seasons. His poems took on a less introspective and more striking tone as he observed the world around him.

     When Bashō returned to Edo he happily resumed his job as a teacher of poetry at his Basho hut, although privately he was already making plans for another journey. The poems from his journey were published as. In early 1686 he composed one of his best-remembered haiku. This interested me so much about Basho for two reasons, he always seemed as if he would be very satisfied inside since he was so satisfied on the outside yet, he wasn't. Another reason why I found this was so interesting is because of the way Basho went for being unsatisfied with himself and having his mother dying to being a happy and successful poet.