“The one I knew – If only she had been an ageless pine! What need was there then for these painful farewells?”-Tosa nikki(935)In Japan, the pine (matsu) is an important symbol of longevity as well as a symbol that appears very often in Japanese poetry (waka) and Japanese literature with a double meaning, one is the literal meaning of a pine tree and the other means to wait or wait. long for, as the word matsu written in different kanji can mean "to wait." Like a pine tree, Japanese travelogues are timeless, providing modern readers with surprisingly detailed glimpses into the travels and life experiences of the writers of these diaries, long after these authors have died. Furthermore, these travel diaries can also be compared to a flower pressed between the pages of a book, which reveals its beauty and unique qualities every time it is looked at. Two examples of very famous travelogues in Japanese literary history are Tosa nikki, written by Ki no Tsurayuki during the Heian period in the year 935, and Oku no hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North) written by the acclaimed haiku and the renga poet (related verses) Matsuo Bashō from spring 1689 to December 1691 during the Tokugawa period. Despite the separation of these two works by over seven hundred years, these works have many similarities, such as the use of poetry as a means of showing the thoughts and feelings of traveling people and the detailed accounts of the travels of the authors and their companions. This article will also describe the differences between these two travelogues. Although Tosa Nikki and Oku no hosomichi are similar in that they both detail travels to distant areas of Japan, their main differences lie in...... middle of paper ......same literary genre, they are both travel diaries that stand as unique works that both involve travel to different places and for different reasons. On the other hand, Oku no hosomichi and Tosa nikki differ from each other in the overall mood of the individual diaries, as Oku no hosomichi is more light-hearted while Tosa nikki has a darker mood due to the tragic loss of the governor's daughter in the story. Works Cited Keene, Donald. Anthology of Japanese literature. First edition. New York, NY: Grove Press, 1955.Print.Miner, Earl. Japanese poetic diaries. First edition.Los Angeles, California: University of CaliforniaPress, 1969. Print.Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, First. Introduction to classical Japanese literature. Fourth edition.Tokyo, Japan: Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, 1948.241-250. Press.