Blowing Stones

Blowing Stones - context Summary

Journey to the Deep North

Basho wrote this haiku in 1689 during his famous journey to the Deep North recorded in Oku no Hosomichi. It was composed while passing the active volcano Mount Asama and later published in the 1702 travel collection. The poem functions as a brief travel-note: a roadside image tied to season and place, offering a momentary impression encountered on the road rather than an abstract meditation.