Matsuo Basho

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) was a Japanese poet, a master of haiku. His poems and commentary are highly influential. He wrote many poems about identifying self with the creative spirit of nature. He was born to a samurai family and took the name of Basho from a kind of native banana tree. He also tried to alleviate anxiety and depression by studying Zen Buddhism, but never became a monk. He traveled extensively and wrote famous travel book The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Wisdom & Quotes

• Now the swinging bridge

Is quieted with creepers -
Like our tendrilled life.

• Under one roof,

Prostitutes, too, were sleeping;
The hagi flowers and the moon.

• Do not resemble me -

Never be like a musk melon
Cut in two identical halves.

• Learn about a pine tree from a pine tree, and about a bamboo plant from a bamboo plant.
• The old pond -

A frog leaps in,
And a splash.

• The sea darkens

And a wild duck's call
Is faintly white.

• The old pond, ah!

A frog jumps in:
The water's sound.

William Penn