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Go Spotting: Lesley Downer’s 'On the Narrow Road'

“About 300 years after the Japanese poet Basho wrote his famous book 'The Narrow Road to the Deep North' a woman named Lesley Downer wrote an account of her own 1989 journey following in Basho's footsteps,” writes None Redmond. “It was called 'On the Narrow Road' and halfway through she is as far north as Basho went and watching the river Mogami.  She writes 'At Goten the river narrowed and frothed. With the help of a little imagination the rocks could have been flat and evenly spaced enough to be Go-ten, the counters you use for playing Go.'” “It's a good book,” Redmond adds. “I am fascinated by her travels and envy her her knowledge of the Japanese language.”