Haiku

This celebration of what is perhaps the most influential of all poetic

forms takes haiku back to its Japanese roots, beginning with poems by

the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century masters Basho, Busson, and

Issa, and going all the way up to the late twentieth century to provide

a survey of haiku through the centuries, in all its minimalist glory.

The translators have balanced faithfulness to the Japanese with an

appreciation of the unique spirit of each poem to create English

versions that evoke the joy and wonder of the originals with the same

astonishing economy of language. An introduction by the translators and

short biographies of the poets are included. Reproductions of woodblock

prints and paintings accompany the poems.