I wonder whether some people might be confused by the title of this book. A more familiar translation of "Oku no Hosomichi" is "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". Using 'inland' for 'Oku' could mislead a reader into thinking Basho undertook an inland journey, when in fact it was (almost entirely) around the coast of northern Honshu. It also loses the original sense of wild boondocks, which is how the region was viewed at the time. Also, I feel it is a big mistake to omit a parallel text, in Roman letters (Romaji), of each haiku. It would reveal the 7-5-7 syllabic form of the original poems.

Nevertheless, it's wonderful to see Matsuo Basho's original handwriting of his travel diary, even though I can only read an isolated character or two! The English translation is to be welcomed. The more that people can appreciate Basho's work, the better!