In 1689, at the age of 46, the poet Matsuo Basho left Edo to visit famous spots in Michinoku (the old name for 5 lands in Northern Honshu) that he had often heard about but had never seen. He traveled through Shirakawa, Matsuyama and Hiraizumi, traveled along the coastline of the Japan Sea, then south to Tsuruga, and to Ogaki in Mino. He recorded this 6-month journey of 600 ri (approx. 2,340 km) in Oku no Hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North). Matsushima was the scenery that Basho was most impressed during his journey. Of this beautiful place he wrote, "Much praise has already been lavished on the wonders of the islands of Matsushima. Yet if further praise is possible, I would like to say that here is the most beautiful spot in the whole country of Japan, and that the beauty of these islands is not in the least inferior to the beauty of Lake Dotei or Lake Seiko in China. The islands are situated in a bay about three miles wide in every direction and open to the sea through a narrow mouth on the south-east side. Just as the River Sekko in China is made full at each swell of the tide, so is the bay filled with the brimming water of the ocean and the innumerable islands are scattered over it from one end to the other. Tall islands point to the sky and level ones prostrate themselves before the surges of water. Islands are piled above islands and islands are joined to islands, so that they look exactly like parents caressing their children or walking with them arm in arm..." You can enjoy the scenery that has long been loved by our predecessors on this Basho Cruise.