Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Bashō, born 松尾 金作, then Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa, was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku. Matsuo Bashō's poetry is internationally renowned; and, in Japan, many of his poems are reproduced on monuments and traditional sites. Although Bashō is justifiably famous in the West for his...
NationalityJapanese
ProfessionPoet
CountryJapan
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself.
Winter garden, the moon thinned to a thread, insects singing.
Sadly, I part from you; Like a clam torn from its shell, I go, and autumn too.
Between our two lives there is also the life of the cherry blossom.
Poverty's child - he starts to grind the rice, and gazes at the moon.
Even in Kyoto/Hearing the cuckoo's cry/I long for Kyoto
Come, see the true flowers of this pained world.
If I had the knack I'd sing like Cherry flakes falling
On a bare branch a crow is perched - autumn evening
For a lovely bowl Let us arrange these flowers... For there is no rice
Twilight whippoorwill... Whistle on, sweet deepener Of dark loneliness
Mountain-rose petals Falling, falling, falling now... Waterfall music
Old dark sleepy pool... Quick unexpected frog Goes plop! Watersplash!
Winter solitude- in a world of one colour the sound of the wind.