Wordsworth and Basho: Walking Poets is an exhibition and book of manuscripts by William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Matsuo Basho and Yosa Buson.

They are shown alongside new work by 18 contemporary UK and Japanese artists who have responded to the manuscripts, and what originally inspired them, in ways that are as fresh, creative and radical now as the work of the Wordsworths and Basho were during their lives.

The poetry and prose of Dorothy and William Wordsworth and Basho emphasizes, in different ways, the importance of our emotional response to an experience of nature, developed through our active imagination, especially when walking.

This approach is also shared by the contemporary artists in this exhibition and is even more important now than it was two centuries ago as our world is facing the twin evils of pollution and climate change.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition at Wordsworth Museum, Grasmere, 24 May – 2 November 2014. Organised and curated by W.A.L.K. (Walking, Art, Landskip and Knowledge) research group at the University of Sunderland.

English and Japanese text.