Matsuo Basho is a master haiku poet. His influence spans Japan and throughout the world. Basho is so well-renowned perhaps because of his work’s accessibility. I read a great number of his haiku in preparation for writing The Lily & The Aster. I admire that he is able to capture such beauty and power in one simple image. Oh, the magic one can create in just 17 syllables. Sample Matsuo Basho’s most poignant work - haiku - translated from Japanese:
Spring:
A hill without a name
Veiled in morning mist
~
Coolness of the melons
flecked with mud
in the morning dew
~
Awake at night--
the sound of the water jar
cracking in the cold
~
Chilling autumn rains
curtain Mount Fuji, then make it
more beautiful to see
~
Crossing long fields,
frozen in its saddle,
my shadow creeps by
