To Reiko Manabe.

‘There was a huge body of mountains obstructing my way to the province of Dewa, and the road was terribly uncertain. The mountains were so thickly covered with foliage and the air underneath was so hushed that I felt as if I were groping my way in the dead of night. There was not even the cry of a single bird to be heard, and the wind seemed to breathe out black soot through every rift in the hanging clouds.’ Bashō, Oku no hosomichi

Narrow Path was written for em.em.em’s Hibari project, dedicated to the relief of the victims of the ecological and nuclear disasters in Northern Japan in 2011. It was recorded for Hibari by Reiko Manabe.