Basho

A lavish collector's edition of the complete poems of eminent Japanese master of the haiku, Matsuo Bash?-with a new index that contains the full Japanese text of the original poems. Matsuo Bash? (1644-1694) is arguably the greatest figure in the history of Japanese literature and the master of the haiku. Bash?: The Complete Haikuof Matsuo Bash? offers in English a full picture of the haiku of Bash?, 980 poems in all. In Fitzsimons's beautiful rendering, Bash? is much more than a philosopher of the natural world and the leading exponent of a refined Japanese sensibility. He is also a poet of queer love and eroticism; of the city as well as the country, the indoors and the outdoors, travel and staying put; of lonesomeness as well as the desire to be alone. Bash?: The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Bash? reveals how this work speaks to our concerns today as much as it captures a Japan emerging from the Middle Ages. For dedicated scholars and those coming upon Bash? for the first time, this beautiful collector's edition of Fitzsimons's elegant award-winning translation, with the original Japanese (including kanji, hiragana, and katakana), allows readers to enjoy these works in all their glory.