Kaihu poems

Basho Matsuo

Here are three examples of the haiku of Basho Matsuo, the first great poet of haiku in the 1600s:

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond,

splash! Silence again.

Autumn moonlight—

a worm digs silently

into the chestnut.

Lightning flash—

what I thought were faces

are plumes of pampas grass.

Yosa Buson

Three examples of the haiku of Yosa Buson from the late 1700s are offered here:

A summer river being crossed

how pleasing

with sandals in my hands!

Light of the moon

Moves west, flowers' shadows

Creep eastward.

In the moonlight,

The color and scent of the wisteria

Seems far away.

Kobayaski Issa

Here are three haiku from Kobayashi Issa, a haiku master poet from the late 1700s and early 1800s:

O snail

Climb Mount Fuji,

But slowly, slowly!

Trusting the Buddha, good and bad,

I bid farewell

To the departing year.

Everything I touch

with tenderness, alas,

pricks like a bramble.