Basho Steps
Walk the narrow road
Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPhone. Not verified for macOS.
Your steps walk Basho's 1689 journey. Real hokku, chapter by chapter. Free to Matsushima; one purchase opens the Oku Road. No ads, no accounts.
Walk, and Basho's journey moves with you.
In 1689 the poet Matsuo Basho set out from Edo on foot and walked the deep north for about 150 days. This pedometer turns your own steps into that road. Each milestone opens a new station of Oku no Hosomichi, with the original hokku and a fresh English rendering written for this app.
THE FREE ROAD - TO MATSUSHIMA
Leave the grass door at Fukagawa. Pass Senju, Nikko, the barrier at Shirakawa, the twin-trunk pine, and the morning bell at Shiogama. At 18,000 steps you reach Matsushima Bay - the most beautiful place on the journey, and the one where the master wrote no poem at all. Some places are already poems. You only walk into them.
THE OKU ROAD - ONE PURCHASE, THE DEEP NORTH
Past the bay the road bends inland: the summer grass of Hiraizumi, the stillness of the mountain temple, the gathered rains of the Mogami, the rough sea at Izumozaki, the scent of the springs at Yamanaka, and the clam-shell parting at Ogaki, where the journey ends by beginning again.
WHAT THIS APP IS
- Real hokku by Basho in the original, with original English renderings
- Your steps only, counted on your iPhone and kept on your iPhone
- An Apple Watch companion that sends each station to your wrist
- A travel pack of ten things you cannot use, and are glad to have
WHAT THIS APP IS NOT
No ads. No account. No tracking. No data collection. No location. No health claims - this is a book that happens to count steps, not a fitness program.
One purchase opens the second half forever. There is no subscription.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
The developer, RIEKO NAITO, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- RIEKO NAITO
- Size
- 2.8 MB
- Category
- Books
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 17.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 14.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later. - Apple Watch
Requires watchOS 10.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- The Oku Road $2.99
- Copyright
- © 2026 Rieko Naito