Research topic: Basho

Basho (Matsuo Basho) , 1644-94, Japanese poet, critic, and essayist of the early Edo period. His literary name, Basho, is derived from the plantain trees [ basho ] near a hut built for him by a disciple. Basho played a central role in the development of haiku . He composed stanzas of haikai no renga (a sequence of linked verses, usually by a group of poets), whose opening, and most important, stanza ( hokku ) was later separated as the verse form haiku. A master of hokku and the integration of verses in a sequence, Basho imbued what was a social pastime with the spirit of Zen ,... Read more