The was the memorandum of

Kawai Sora ''Oku no Hosomichi'' (, originally ), translated as ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' and ''The Narrow Road to the Interior'', is a major work of ''haibun'' by the List of Japanese language poets, Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, considered one ...

in 1689 and 1691 when he accompanied

Matsuo Bashō born then was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative '' haikai no renga'' form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest ma ...

, on his noted journeys. By the time it was re-discovered in 1943, the presence of this diary had been doubted. This diary has proven indispensable in the study of ''

Oku no Hosomichi ''Oku no Hosomichi'' (, originally ), translated as ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' and ''The Narrow Road to the Interior'', is a major work of ''haibun'' by the Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, considered one of the major texts of Japanese l ...

'' by

The diary

The existence of this diary had been known and it was re-discovered and published by Yasusaburo Yamamoto in 1943. It was designated an

Important Cultural Property of Japan An The term is often shortened into just is an item officially classified as Tangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and judged to be o ...

on June 15, 1978. The diary was 11 cm in length, 16.5 cm in width and 2 cm in thickness; the book cover was

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

and the volume contained 100 sheets of paper, including 4 white sheets. There were 11 sheets of paper pasted. For convenience, it has been divided into parts: ''Summary of Divine Names of Engishiki'', ''Memorandum of Utamakura'', ''Diary of Genroku 2nd year'', ''Diary of Genroku 4th year'', ''Memorandum of Haiku'' and ''Others''. Inside the diary, there were no such divisions. The diary was called also ''Sora Nikki (Sora Diary)'' and ''Zuiko Nikki (Diary of Sora accompanying Basho)''. In the diary, there were no emotional sentences such as seen in ''

''. The names of lands visited and the distances between places were recorded precisely.

Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japan ...

compared this diary to the diary of François-René de Chateaubriand, namely exactly recording the data of the trip by Julian who accompanied his master. The recording of time in the middle of Edo era in this diary is noted as most exact one. It was shown in

Earthly Branches The twelve Earthly Branches or Terrestrial Branches are a Chinese ordering system used throughout East Asia in various contexts, including its ancient dating system, astrological traditions, zodiac and ordinals. Origin This system was built ...

and the time was shown in three divisions. He wrote that while they worshiped at shrines or prayed before shrines, they only visited or saw temples, indicating that he was an earnest

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

ist. ;Engishiki Shinmeicho (List of kami) : Engishiki: This was a list of

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

by Sora, who studied Shinto under Yoshikawa Koretari (1616–1695) in preparation for their travels. It occupies the beginning of the diary, up to the halfway point of the 12th sheet of paper. ;Utamakura memorandum :In preparation for the trip, he wrote an utamakura memorandum based on the ''Ruiji Meisho Wakashū'' and ''Nａｒａｙａｍａ Sｈūｙō''. It consumes 8 sheets, starting on the back of the 12th sheet. Findings in the trip were added between the lines. One sheet of paper was pasted. This is also called the "Meishō Memorandum". ;1689 diary Oku no hosomichi buson kurobane

:On 33 and a half sheets of paper, it begins with the two leaving Fukagawa in Edo in March during the second year of Genroku, and ends with Sora departing for Ise and Nagashima on August 5. Between these two events, Sora recorded everything in the journey, including the real dates, weather, schedule, and stays in inns. This has become an important document for the study of

. On September 3, Sora rejoined Basho at Ogaki, and the two returned to Fukagawa on November 13. Sora recorded details of the trip. ;1691 diary :Sora started on March 4, 1691 and arrived at Nagashima on July 25. This diary is also called the Kinki Area Journey Diary. Starting at the latter half of the 1689 diary, the diary was described for 23 sheets of paper to Haikai Kakidome. Most were on his visits to shrines and temples at Yoshino, Koyasan. Kumano, Wakaura, Suma, Akashi. He recorded the shrines and temples and Utamakura. He visited Basho who was staying at Sagaraku Kakisha, and recorded Basho and his disciples who were editing ''

Sarumino is a 1691 anthology, considered the ''magnum opus'' of Bashō-school poetry.Shirane 1998, 20 It contains four kasen renku as well as some 400 hokku, collected by Nozawa Bonchō and Mukai Kyorai under the supervision of Matsuo Bashō.Mayhew 1985 ...

''. ;Haikai Kakidome :Haikai Kakidome recorded the hokku (starting verse of a renku) and

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

s of Basho and Sora during their journey and the haiku meetings during their journey. This is an important document in order to know the original form of their haikus. ;Zatsuroku (trivia) :On the Japanese archery, anecdotes on Teishitsu which Sora recorded at Yamanaka Spa, names and addresses of persons Sora and Basho met on their journeys, old haikus; these were jotted down.

History prior to rediscovery

The original book had been present together with a copied manuscript of Oku no Hosomichi called ''Sora Hon'' in the same box made of paulownia wood. This book was in the hand of Sugiyama Sanpū who was a close friend of Sora when Sora died in Iki Island, now

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 Square kilometre, km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders ...

. Shikōbō Hakushū, who was a brother-in-law of Sansha, a son of Sugiyama Sanpū, wrote that Sanpū possessed this book. This book was sent to Takano Family where Sora was born. When the Takano Family ended, this book was under the control of Kasai Family, who was the family of the mother of Sora. Kasai Shūtoku, of the Kasai Family, was married with the daughter of one elder sister of Sora. He respected Sora. He edited a book ''Yukimaruke'' concerning Sora from various documents of Sora. Later the book went to Kubojima Wakōdo. Chikurinsha Atsujin of

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

wrote Wakōdo had originally retained the Diary of Sora.Roinsha Chikusai wrote in his book the map of Sendai in Sora's diary and a line of July 20, 1689 were transcribed at the Wakodo's house. According to a Journal of History of Suwa in 1967, the diary of Sora was illegally taken away from the Kasai Family. Namely Wakōdo defrauded the Kasai Family of Sora's diary. Wakōdo bought 8 items of Kasai Family including the diary at 58 ryō

Tael Tael (),"Tael" entry
at the

'' were based on indirect findings. After the re-discovery, Sora's diary has become indispensable, for instance, one should read the Haikai Kakidome for the beginning Hokku. Yamamoto wrote in the beginning of his book that "If this diary still exists today in a complete state, it is a miracle beyond my comprehension. For the approximately 250 years from the trip to the narrow road of Oku until today, in spite of there being enough distinguished writings on Basho to make an ox sweat to carry them or to fill a library to the rafters, this iarystill represents a historical document the likes of which has never seen the light of day." Shida Gishu was asked to write a preface of Yamamoto's book and wrote that this diary would contribute greatly to the study of ''Oku no Hosomichi'', and every study would contribute to the proof of this diary and attested to the real writings of Sora with various examples of proof. The publication of Sora's diary produced problems of discrepancies between the Basho's ''Oku no Hosomichi'' and the Sora's descriptions. Prior to the discovery of the diary, Shida had pointed out that not all recorded in the ''Oku no Hosomichi'' was necessarily true and that there were examples of fabrications. This problem had been under dispute in 1951 in ''the Kokubungaku, Kaishaku to Kansho''. Toyotaka Komiya supported Basho stating there were no intentional fabrications, but most researchers such as Sugiura, Noichi Imoto, Kisao Abe studied minutely; the academic circle was in favor of the fabrications. Yamamoto's original book contains mistakes and misprintings. Sugiura showed a corrected diary. Thereafter, there have been several books on the corrected Sora's diary. Atsuko Kanamori ( :ja:金森敦子), a Japanese historian, tried to explore the Sora's diary by studying the references and travelling on the route herself. She concluded that the length of the journey was really only 450 ri (around 720 miles). She counted the time of every part in the diary, and studied especially the entry into and leaving the checking stations of the hans, for instance, the Sendai Domain at that time and how they managed local haiku poets. The original hope of Basho had been to see the cherry blossoms of

Shiogama, Miyagi is a city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 52,662, and a population density of 3,032 persons per km² in 23,270 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Shiogama is in north-central Miya ...

; however, this was almost impossible, taking Basho's health into account. Sora was appointed to be Basho's travelling companion, and studied the places of previously composed famous Japanese tankas. This made this journey successful.Kanamori 013:1-5/ref>

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* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:SORATABINIKKI Diaries Travel books Edo-period works Important Cultural Properties of Japan Edo-period diaries