Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) was the most famous poet of Japan’s Edo period (1603-1868). His great contribution to Japanese poetry was that he elevated the haiku to a level of art after it had been part of Japanese culture for hundreds of years. His concepts, insights, and understanding of the art form of haiku influenced generations of haiku poets in Japan and beyond, and his great poetry is still widely appreciated today.
The Seattle Public Library has some good titles on Basho and his haikus in its collection. For a complete collection on Basho’s accredited poems, you can check out: Basho: The Complete haiku by Matsuo Basho, translated, annotated, and with an introduction by Jane Reichhold; original artwork by Shiro Tsujimura. There are several selections on Basho’s finest poems: The Way of silence; the prose and poetry of Basho, edited by Richard Lewis; photos by Helen Buttfield, The Essential Basho, by Matsuo Basho; translated from the 
Japanese by Sam Hamill, On Love and Barley: Haiku of Basho, translated from the Japanese with an introduction by Lucien Stryk, and A Zen wave: Basho’s haiku and Zen, by Robert Aitken. Among the selections listed above, the last two would give you some ideas on how Basho’s Zen beliefs influenced his spirit and his haiku. Both literary texts provided in the introductions by the compilers are enlightening and worth reading in terms of helping readers have a deeper understanding of Basho’s haiku.
Basho made many trips across his native country of Japan during his lifetime. The most famous one was his last journey through the northern provinces of Japan in 1689. Back roads to far towns: Basho’s travel journal, translated by Cid Corman and Kamaike Susumu; illustrated by Hide Oshiro was the record of this journey. It is recognized to be Basho’s finest travel diaries in the form of haibun, prose passages with haiku.
Among Basho and his school’s collections on Basho’s poetry, Monkey’s Raincoat, originally published in 1691, is widely considered to be the best. There are two copies of translations on this work at SPL: Monkey’s raincoat by Matsuo Basho, translated by Maeda Cana, and The Monkey’s straw raincoat and other poetry of the Basho school, introduced and translated by Earl Miner and Hiroko Odagiri. In addition to Monkey’s Raincoat, the latter also includes Basho’s sample poetry from earlier years as well as those from later. This enables readers to have some idea on how Basho’s poetry style varied from time to time.
Among the scholars, researchers, and poets who put endless effort into studying Basho and translating his haiku into the English language, Dr. Makoto Ueda is a pioneer. The Seattle Public library fortunately has his two books in its collection. Zeami, Basho, Yeats, Pound: A Study in Japanese and English poetics, by Makoto Ueda, published in 1965, was originally prepared as Ueda’s doctoral thesis at the University of Washington. In this book, Ueda analyzes the four poets’ writings including Basho’s, and, as he stated in his introduction, “tries to bring together the ideas of poetry conceived by the people of different traditions.” Matsuo Basho, by Makoto Ueda gives, in the first time in English, a comprehensive view of Basho’s life and his works in the forms of haiku and prose, his literary criticism, and his influence on later literature. A discussion of his linked verse, the form which the haiku evolved from, is also included in this book.
There is another title that deserves to be mentioned here: The Essential haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa, edited and with verse translations by Robert Hass. This book collects the haiku poems by three haiku masters: Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), Yosa Buson (1716-1783), and Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827). Basho, Buson, and Issa are considered as the three greatest haiku masters in Japanese history. It’s interesting to read and appreciate their poems in one book following the editor’s literary discussions of their lives and works.
Finally, if you would like to explore Basho’s fascinating world and his fine poems with your children, there are several good books available for you to check out: Grass sandals: the travels of Basho by Dawnine Spivak; illustrated by Demi, Basho and the river stones by Tim Myers; illustrations by Oki S. Han, Basho and the fox by Tim Myers; illustrated by Oki Han, My own rhythm; an approach to haiku by Ann Atwood. Kids would love to know how Basho walked all over his country writing poems, and how authors who loved and admired Basho created tales about him — Basho could make friends with foxes through his wisdom and honesty. Upon finishing reading these books, kids will have appreciated Basho’s poetry.
~ Duan, International District.
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