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
From all these trees, in the salads, the soup, everywhere, cherry blossoms fall.
Spring rain conveyed under the trees in drops.
Learn about a pine tree from a pine tree, and about a bamboo plant from a bamboo plant.
The oak tree: not interested in cherry blossoms.
From the pine tree, learn of the pine tree; And from the bamboo, of the bamboo
Make the universe your companion, always bearing in mind the true nature of things-mountains and rivers, trees and grasses, and humanity-and enjoy the falling blossoms and the scattering leaves.
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.
The fact that Saigyo composed a poem that begins, "I shall be unhappy without loneliness," shows that he made loneliness his master.