Narrow Road to the Interior & Hojoki

Summary

Japanese poetry is known for its clarity and concision, and Narrow Road to the Interior and Hōjōki 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 Narrow Road that it was as if the very soul of Japan had itself written it. The poem takes the form of a travel diary and traces the poet’s journey from Edo (modern day Tokyo) to the northern interior of the country.

Hōjōki, a much earlier work written by Kamo no Chōmei, 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 forth.