October 25, 2011

Basho backgammon game


My Osaka friend sent to me this image of Japanese backgammon based on Basho's haiku journey in Oku, northeast Japan. The stops with manga are representative places Basho visited and wrote haiku. Interesting thing is that this game is printed on the back of a little pamphlet made by a tax office.

If you could name and come up with the related haiku just by looking at the manga, you are certainly well informed about "Oku no Hosomichi" or "Narrow Road to the Deep North". Right bottom manga is the beginning. The last one, which is in the center, is Iga Uneno, Basho' birth place.

No comments: