LEADER
Rosemary Gould lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her family and has been leading poetry discussions for Classical Pursuits and other organizations for many years. She has been writing haiku since first reading Bashō in adolescence. Like a great magician, he makes it seem easy.
READINGS
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Matsuo Bashō
(Penguin Classics, 1967)
ISBN-13: 978-0-140-44185-7
SEMINAR OVERVIEW
“In this mortal frame of mine which is made of a hundred bones and nine orifices there is something, and this something is called a wind-swept spirit for lack of a better name, for it is much like a thin drapery that is torn and swept away at the slightest stir of the wind. This something in me took to writing poetry years ago, merely to amuse itself at first, but finally making it its lifelong business.”
– from “A Travel-Worn Satchel”
In these short works, Bashō describes his walking/riding tours of rural areas away from the capital where he lived. He dressed in black and shaved his head as if he were a Zen priest for these journeys and usually took only one younger man, a disciple of poetry, along as a companion. He went in spite of poor health and often doubted he would make it home alive.
Yet these sketches are full of wonder. Most days he wrote at least one haiku, and he also includes the haiku written by his disciples and the friends he meets. As he walks from place to place, he remembers favorite poems with similar imagery and events from Japanese (and Chinese) history and myth. He expresses reverence for the beauty of the natural world around him constantly and invokes Zen and Shinto sacred figures. As he walks, his mind weaves together all of these different strands of Japanese culture into one richly colorful fabric. He can be funny, poignant, and serene all at the same time. These are unforgettable spiritual as well as artistic masterpieces.
In this seminar we will discuss one of the five memoirs each day, paying particular attention to the haiku. Unless one reads Japanese, it is challenging to understand the complexity and beauty of these tiny poems, but through the method of shared inquiry we will make our way into them, word by word, and perhaps in the end share the author’s feeling that …
“The voices of plovers
Invite me to stare
Into the darkness
Of the Starlit Promontory.”
TORONTO PURSUITS 2026 PRICING
The registration cost for Toronto Pursuits 2026 is C$1850. All seminars are C$75 off through 11:59 p.m. Eastern, January 3, 2026. Sale prices are automatically applied.
All orders placed by 11:59 p.m. Eastern, January 3, 2026, also get a complimentary Toronto Summer Music Festival ticket. Participants who register after January 3 can purchase a concert ticket at our group rate, typically around C$80. The concert we will be attending will be announced in early spring 2026.
Bring a new friend and save even more! Take $100 off your registration for every new friend you bring to Toronto Pursuits. Your friend also saves $100 on their registration. Choose your discount from the dropdown menu based on the number of friends who also plan to register, and let us know your friend’s name in the order notes.
The fine print: To get the bring-a-friend discount, your friend must not have registered for any previous Toronto Pursuits seminar in any year. Your friend must register by May 31, 2026, or Classical Pursuits will apply the nondiscounted price to your final payment. Limit one $100 discount per participant for being referred as a new friend. For example, if person A brings new friend B, person C cannot also claim friend B for the bring-a-friend discount. If friend B brings new friend D, friend B qualifies for $100 discount for being a new referral, and an additional $100 for referring new friend D. Classical Pursuits reserves the right to make all decisions about discount eligibility.
Toronto Pursuits 2026
See the Toronto Pursuits 2026 page for full details on the program schedule, health and safety, booking your accommodations, terms and conditions, and more.
