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
How much I desire! Inside my little satchel, the moon, and flowers
Come, see the true flowers of this pained world.
For a lovely bowl Let us arrange these flowers... For there is no rice
The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.
Come out to view / the truth of flowers blooming / in poverty.
How I long to see among dawn flowers, the face of God.
There is nothing you can see that is not a flower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.
Seek not to follow in the footsteps of men of old; seek what they sought.
Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.
There is nothing you can see that is not a Bashoflower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.
At the ancient pond the frog plunges into the sound of water
Friends part foreverwild geese lost in cloud
Old pond, leap-splash - a frog.
First snow-falling-on the half-finished bridge.