Basho stands today as Japans most renowned writer, and one of the most revered. Wherever Japanese literature, poetry or Zen are studied, his oeuvre carries weight. Every new student of haiku quickly learns that Basho was the greatest of the Old Japanese Masters.

Yet despite his stature, [...]

This book has a dual purpose. The first is to present in a new English translation 255 representative hokku (or haiku) poems of Matsuo Basho (1644-94), the Japanese poet who is generally considered the most influential figure in the history of the genre. The second is to make available in English a [...]

'Nothing more lonely' - a selection of Basho's most magical haiku. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from [...]

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) räknas tillsammans med Issa, Buson och Shiki som en av de fyra stora, japanska haikumästarna. Han gjorde rent hus i den högstämda japanska hovdikten; han uteslöt allt tillgjort, allt sentimentalt och allt onödigt; hämtade ord och motiv från folkliga verser, från sla[...]

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) räknas tillsammans med Issa, Buson och Shiki som en av de fyra stora, japanska haikumästarna.

Han gjorde rent hus i den högstämda japanska hovdikten; han uteslöt allt tillgjort, allt sentimentalt och allt onödigt; hämtade ord och motiv från folkliga verse[...]

Basho, one of the greatest of Japanese poets and the master of haiku, was also a Buddhist monk and a life-long traveller. His poems combine 'karumi', or lightness of touch, with the Zen ideal of oneness with creation. Each poem evokes the natural world - the cherry blossom, the leaping frog, the sum[...]