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
There is nothing you can see that is not a Bashoflower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.
The desire to break the silence with constant human noise is, I believe, precisely an avoidance of the sacred terror of that divine encounter.
Old pond, leap-splash - a frog.
At the ancient pond the frog plunges into the sound of water
Around existence twine, (Oh, bridge that hangs across the gorge!) ropes of twisted vine.
I am one who eats breakfast gazing at morning glories.
Traveler's heart. Never settled long in one place. Like a portable fire.
Just washed, How chill The white leeks!
Felling a tree and gazing at the cut end - tonight's moon
I hope to have gathered To repay your kindness The willow leaves Scattered in the garden.
With every gust of wind, the butterfly changes its place on the willow.
Do not resemble me-Never be like a musk melon Cut in two identical halves.