Edo, spring 1689
Matsuo Basho sells his house and sets off with his friend, Sora, on a risky 2500 kilometre journey to the north of Japan, mostly on foot. He travels light, he tells us, just a paper coat, light cotton gown, his writing brush and ink. His aim is to see the great northern sights like Matsushima and Kisakata Bay which have inspired poets before him, a process the Japanese call “uta makura”, literally “poem pillow”, but more accurately translated as “the poem road”. He follows the wandering priest’s lifestyle of his favourite poet of the past, Saigyo, although it is part of the charm of The Narrow Road that Basho is not only a stumbling traveller but a famous poet, with disciples who entertain him rather lavishly along his way. After he returns to Edo (Tokyo), he writes The Narrow Road to the Deep North. He describes the journey in “hai-bun”, a mixture of hai(ku) poem and bun(sho) prose: he walks, rides, takes boats in prose; but when he stops to admire the view, he breaks into a poem.
London, autumn 2014
Isao Miura is a painter and sculptor from Akita in the “deep north” of Japan. He left his village near Mount Chokai (an active volcano) and Kisagata Bay to study painting in Tokyo, later moving to London to continue his studies. Now Isao’s project is to translate Basho’s Narrow Road into visual images, to analyse its emotional power, its culture-defining charm, through paintings, drawings, calligraphy, sculpture. Isao is very fortunate to have been awarded a Fellowship in the Foundry at Chelsea College of Art, from October 2014. After months of research, he has picked three points along the Road to work on in Chelsea: Departure, the Killing Stone and Mount Chokai.
This website charts Isao's project in the footsteps of Basho's Narrow Road, starting with drawings then moving on to sculptures, paintings, calligraphy and multi-media installations.
For further information or to make a comment, please visit Isao's website: http://www.isaomiura.com or send an email to mailto:[email protected]
Matsuo Basho sells his house and sets off with his friend, Sora, on a risky 2500 kilometre journey to the north of Japan, mostly on foot. He travels light, he tells us, just a paper coat, light cotton gown, his writing brush and ink. His aim is to see the great northern sights like Matsushima and Kisakata Bay which have inspired poets before him, a process the Japanese call “uta makura”, literally “poem pillow”, but more accurately translated as “the poem road”. He follows the wandering priest’s lifestyle of his favourite poet of the past, Saigyo, although it is part of the charm of The Narrow Road that Basho is not only a stumbling traveller but a famous poet, with disciples who entertain him rather lavishly along his way. After he returns to Edo (Tokyo), he writes The Narrow Road to the Deep North. He describes the journey in “hai-bun”, a mixture of hai(ku) poem and bun(sho) prose: he walks, rides, takes boats in prose; but when he stops to admire the view, he breaks into a poem.
London, autumn 2014
Isao Miura is a painter and sculptor from Akita in the “deep north” of Japan. He left his village near Mount Chokai (an active volcano) and Kisagata Bay to study painting in Tokyo, later moving to London to continue his studies. Now Isao’s project is to translate Basho’s Narrow Road into visual images, to analyse its emotional power, its culture-defining charm, through paintings, drawings, calligraphy, sculpture. Isao is very fortunate to have been awarded a Fellowship in the Foundry at Chelsea College of Art, from October 2014. After months of research, he has picked three points along the Road to work on in Chelsea: Departure, the Killing Stone and Mount Chokai.
This website charts Isao's project in the footsteps of Basho's Narrow Road, starting with drawings then moving on to sculptures, paintings, calligraphy and multi-media installations.
For further information or to make a comment, please visit Isao's website: http://www.isaomiura.com or send an email to mailto:[email protected]
