Classic Haiku

Poetry aficionados will appreciate this beautifully designed and illustrated collection of 200 haiku by the four most celebrated Japanese poets of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries: Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki, who modernized the form and coined the very term haiku. Enhancing their work are four seasonally-themed groups of verse, many written by Basho’s students and associates. The translation is thoroughly readable and contemporary, and the images evocative. An enlightening introduction offers biographical information on the featured poets, background on the nature of haiku and its development within the Japanese poetic tradition, and a short account of the Buddhist practice to which most of the writers were connected.