Artworks

Oku no hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North)

Artwork · Yosa Buson · 1778 · handscroll · Kyoto National Museum

A handscroll in which Yosa Buson (1716–1783), the haiku poet second only to Matsuo Bashō, wrote out and illustrated Bashō’s poetic diary: Bashō and his companion Sora start on their journey, sketchily drawn in ink lines and colour washes, moving away while three friends stand deferentially and sadly bid them farewell — setting the melancholy, sentimental tone of the text. 1 Mason 2005, pp. 333–334, fig. 389. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.