Scene from The Narrow Road to the Deep North

A man sits in a hut, enclosed by a wooden fence and a thatched gate, his only companion an enormous chestnut tree. The text inscribed at the right by the artist, Yosa Buson (1716–1783), is also contained within the compound, while another block of text frames the scene at the left. Beneath the tree are the title of the painting, Shōō Oku nikki (Diary of the Deep North by Old Man Bashō); Buson's signature; and two seals, "Chōko" and "Shunsei," carved half in intaglio and half in cameo, a form the artist used in the later years of his life.

The painting illustrates an episode from the Oku no hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North, 1694), a diary by Matsuo Bashō that became one of the most popular literary works of Japan. Bashō wrote it during a journey of more than two and a half years that he took beginning in 1689 to northern Japan and the coastal regions along the Sea of Japan. About a month after he left Edo, Bashō arrived at Sukagawa, a small village north of Edo. There he visited a monk named Kashin, who reminded him of the Late Heian monk-poet Saigyō (see cat. no. 79). The text of Bashō's diary, a part of which was copied by Buson on this fan, reads:

There was a great chestnut tree on the outskirts of a post town, and a monk in seclusion lived in its shade. When I stood in front of the tree, I felt as though I was surrounded by the deep mountains where the poet Saigyō had once picked nuts. I took a piece of paper from my bag, and wrote the following: "The chestnut is a holy tree. The Chinese ideograph for the chestnut is a tree placed directly below the west, the direction of the holy land. The monk Gyōki [668–749] is said to have used [the branch of] a chestnut for his walking stick and as the chief support of his house.

People hardly note its flowers,
The chestnut near the eaves.[1]

From 1777 to 1780, Buson painted scenes from the Oku no hosomichi at least five times—on scrolls, screens, and fans. This fan is nearly identical in composition to the scene in a scroll version now in the Itsuō Museum, Osaka.[2] The soft, resilient strokes that Buson used in all his illustrations for the Oku no hosomichi have the distinct charm peculiar to his work. Quick splashes of dark ink over broad washes of blue for the foliage and the pale pink on the thatch lend warmth and intimacy, reflecting the affection that both Bashō and Buson must have felt for the solitary country monk. Here, Buson returns to memories of his own youthful wanderings (see cat. no. 155) and captures the essence of haiga, an abbreviated and poignant pictorial expression that corresponds to haikai. The painting probably dates to the end of Buson's life, possibly about 1780, when he also painted other versions of the story.

[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]

[1] Translation after Matsuo Bashō 1996, p. 63.
[2] Okada Rihei 1978, pl. 18.

Signature: Buson

Marking: Seals: Choko and Shunsei

Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA); [ Harry C. Nail Jr. , El Dorado, Arkansas, until March 1971; sold to Mr. and Mrs.

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