Narrow Road to the Interior and Hojoki

Japanese poetry is well-known for its clarity and concision. This title features two poems including "The Narrow Road to the Interior" that traces the poet's journey from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to the northern interior; and "Hojoki" which is a meditation on the transience of the world.

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Japanese poetry is well-known for its clarity and concision, and "The Narrow Road to the Interior" and "Hojoki" are two of the best-loved, and most intensely Japanese, works of their kind; famous for their beautiful, delicate verse and subtle insight into the human condition. It has been said of "The Narrow Road" that 'it was as if the very soul of Japan had itself written it'. It takes the form of a travel diary, and traces the poet's journey from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to the northern interior. "Hojoki", a much earlier work written by Chomei, a Buddhist hermit, is essentially a meditation on the transience of the world. Read by the famous classical Japanese actor Togo Igawa, the full beauty of its ancient cadences and rhythms is drawn out.