Episode Details

Matsuo Basho may have been trained as a ninja in the Iga region where he grew up. He abandoned whatever covert skills he possessed to become a wandering poet, walking thousands of miles across Japan and distilling what he saw into haiku of compressed beauty that redefined Japanese poetry.

This episode traces Basho from his possible ninja connections through the walking journeys that produced his greatest work, and the death on the road that completed his legend.

• Basho's Iga Province origins and the possible ninja training
• The development of haiku from comic verse into serious art under Basho's influence
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North — Japan's greatest travel narrative
• The "frog pond" haiku that encapsulates his philosophy in seventeen syllables