Tosa nikki and Oku no hosomichi

Two travel dairies or nikki stand out in Japanese traditional literature; both share the same literary designation, but they come from drastically different time periods. The first journal Tosa nikki was written in 936, the second journal Oku no hosomuchi was written starting in 1689 and finally finished in 1702. Both authors had a purpose for their writing, and shared their thoughts with the Japanese people; but how different could two men of the same culture be?

Ki no Tsurayuki wrote his travel diary the Tosa Nikki during the Heian period while preparing and journeying from the Tosa Province (modern day Kochi Prefecture) to the capital city of Kyoto. This journey was to the north and was made primarily by sea; this was notable because the Japanese were legendarily poor sailors. Kyoto was the home of the emperor who during the Heian period was considered to be descended from the gods. Kyoto was not only Ki no Tsurayuki’s home, but also the center of the world at the time. Men and women were sent away from the city but always longed to return. In contrast to the Tosa Nikki, Oku no hosomichi by Matsuo Bashō (previously known as Matsuo Kinsaku) was written much later during the Edo period and was about a land journey made on foot. Even without the dangers of water travel Bashō’s journey had its own perils such as bandits and poor trails. Regardless of the type of journey and the time period, one of the startling differences between the Tosa Nikki and Oku no hosomichi was the direction the authors were travelling. I mentioned about that Ki no Tsurayuki was journeying home, to the center of the world at the time, Kyoto. Bashō on the other had was leaving the city Edo (modern Tokyo), and travelling out into the wilderness to visit i...

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...oss, and the other was fleeing the city after a loss. These two men wrote in very different styles, with different surrounding political and social situation, but still managed to be uncannily alike and traditionally Japanese in their writing. Both authors shared a mutual appreciate of the nature world around them, and shared the poems of different social classes in their work in order to give a broad picture of the land. Regardless of the time period, the religious atmosphere, and the mode of travel, both the Tosa Nikki and the Oku no Hosomichi helped share a distinctly Japanese appreciation for beauty and depth of feeling. Fictionalized or not, these works have provided us with an invaluable window in both the Heian and Edo time periods.

Works Cited

Basho, Matsuo. Oku no Hosomichi. n.d.

Keene, Donald. Anthology of Japanese Literature. Grove Press Inc., 1955.