<DIV><p><b>Basho</b> (1644–1694) is the most famous Haiku poet of Japan. He made his living as a teacher and writer of Haiku and is celebrated for his many travels around Japan, which he recorded in travel journals. This translation of his most mature journal, <i>Oku-No-Hosomichi</i>, details the most arduous part of a nine-month journey with his friend and disciple, Sora, through the backlands north of the capital, west to the Japan Sea and back toward Kyoto. More than a record of the journey, Basho's journal is a poetic sequence that has become a center of the Japanese mind/heart. Ten illustrations by Hide Oshiro illuminate the text.</p><p><b>Cid Corman</b> was well-known as a poet, translator and editor of <i>Origin</i>, the ground-breaking poetry magazine.</p></DIV>