In 936, Ki no Tsurayuki completed the Tosa Nikki, a prose work written from the perspective of a female assistant that detailed her return to capital from the province of Tosa. Although Tosa Nikki is the first “diary” of literary merit that contributed to the development of nikki bungaku, the tradition of writing intimate diaries that became prominent among women, Tsurayuki's work is actually more of a diary (kikō) modeled on the diaries of Chinese courts. . In 1694, over 700 years later, this practice of keeping records during one's travels was still perpetuated by another famous writer, Matsuo Bashō, in his Oku no Hosochi, in which he recalls his epic journey to the deep north of Japan. Coming from two separate periods, these diaries contain major differences that reflect the changes of the times. One thing that seems to have remained constant in Japanese literature even over the centuries is the presence of poetry. Both works use many poems, Tosa Nikki records poems written or recited spontaneously by other travelers (but usually not his own) and Oku no Hosochi contains poems written by Bashō himself and his disciples whenever he is struck by a beautiful scene in nature. or encounter some memorable moment. However, the nature of the poems included is quite different. Tosa Nikki uses traditional waka, although most are from common people, sailors and even children, which is quite rare in the courtly Heian period. Bashō, however, includes a new type of poetry for which he was famous: the haiku. Haiku derives from the first 5-7-5 lines of the haikai no renga, a crude and comic variation of poetry in connected verses. Naturally, starting from these roots, some of the Bashō haiku written in O......middle sheet......the path continues as you make choices about what to do with your life. The path does not necessarily have to lead to higher morality or enlightenment, because the experiences one encounters by following one's michi are more valuable and may bring out those things on their own. Two different journeys, two truly unique men who traveled them and carried them forward. with them their own perspectives and life principles. This creates two different but equally inspiring kikō that people continue to read hundreds of years later. Works Cited Sargent, G.W. (Tr.) (1955). Tosa's diary. In D. Keene (ed.), Anthology of Japanese literature from the earliest times to the mid-nineteenth century. New York: Grove Press, Inc. Yuasa, Nobuyuki. (Tr.) (1966) Matsuo Bashō: The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches. London: Penguin Group.