Travels with a Writing Brush: Classical Japanese Travel Writing from the Manyoshu to Basho (Penguin Classics)

Shortlisted for the NSW Translation Prize

Discover a realm of travel writing undreamed of in the West – a richly literary tradition extending through a thousand years and more, whose individual works together weave a dense and beautiful brocade of repeated patterns and motifs, tones and textures. Here are asobi, the wandering performers who prefigured geisha; travelling monks who sleep on pillows of grass and listen to the autumnal insects; and a young girl who passionately longs to travel to the capital and read more stories. Taking in songs, dramas, tales, diaries and above all, poetry, this wonderful anthology roams over mountains and along perilous shores to show how profoundly travel inspired the Japanese imagination.

Review

A delightful anthology that traces the evolution of travel writing in Japan through diaries, stories, drama and poetry … In this remarkable work of translation and scholarship, filled with wonderful vignettes of Japanese life and sensibility, McKinney introduces readers to the nation’s rich and unique literary tradition — P.D James ― The Guardian

A marvel of absorbing, elegant scholarship . . . Travels With A Writing Brush is a beehive of a book, buzzing with superb commentary and annotations, and bound to last generations. — Barry Hill ― Australian Book Review

A fascinating adventure … Resonates as much with today as with yesteryear, and even for readers unfamiliar with Japan… A beautiful work ― Japan Times

A fascinating compendium ― RTE

About the Author

Meredith McKinney is a translator of Japanese literature, both contemporary and classical. She lived in Japan for twenty years and is currently Honorary Associate Professor at the Australian National University in Canberra. Her translations for Penguin Classics include The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, Essays in Idleness and Hojoki by Kenko and Chomei, and two novels by Natsume Soseki.