Bashō Matsuo Libros

"Matsuo Basho stands today as Japan's most renowned writer, and one of the most revered. Yet despite his stature, Basho's complete haiku have never been collected under one cover. Until now. To render the writer's full body of work in English, Jane Reichhold, an American haiku poet and translator, dedicated over ten years to the present compilation. In Barbo: The Complete Haiku she accomplishes the feat with distinction. Dividing the poet's creative output into seven periods of development, Reichhold frames each period with a decisive biographical sketch of the poet's travels, creative influences, and personal triumphs and defeats. Supplementary material includes two hundred pages of scrupulously researched notes, which also contain a literal translation of the poem, the original Japanese, and a Romanized reading. A glossary, chronology, index of first lines, and explanation of Basho's haiku techniques provide additional background information. Finally in the spirit of Basho, elegant semi-e ink drawings by well-known Japanese artist Shiro Tsujimura front each chapter."

"The literary significance of these six texts is enormous, and a single, affordable volume containing all of them, in clear and accessible translations, with thorough annotations, [will] be a great boon to teachers of Japanese literature. The strengths of this translation are clear. . . . The annotations are extremely valuable: they show a solid grasp of Bashō's life, work, and times, and provide rich and detailed background, with plentiful information about allusions to Chinese and Japanese texts and connections with other works by Bashō. I don't think I have encountered an English translation of Bashō, or indeed of any Japanese poet, with such comprehensive annotation. . . . The thoroughness with which [these translations are] annotated will make this book a significant scholarly resource; it will also help general readers appreciate the density and delicacy of Bashō's writing. In short, I think this translation of Bashō's travel diaries will be an important and welcome addition to the English-language literature on one of the most important poets of the Japanese tradition." --David Lurie, Columbia University

"Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) is arguably the greatest figure in the history of Japanese literature and the master of the haiku. Bashō: The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Bashō offers in English a full picture of the haiku of Bashō, 980 poems in all. Andrew Fitzsimons's translation is the first to adhere strictly to form: all of the poems are translated following the syllabic count of the originals. This book also translates a number of Bashō's headnotes to poems ignored by previous English-language translators. In Fitzsimons's beautiful rendering, Bashō 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. His poetry explores the full range of social experience in Edo Japan, as he moved among friends and followers high and low, the elite and the demi-monde, the less fortunate: poor farmers, abandoned children, disregarded elders. Bashō: The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Bashō 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 Bashō for the first time, Fitzsimons's elegant translation-with an insightful introduction and helpful notes-allows readers to enjoy these works in all their glory"-- Provided by publisher

Vivid new translations of Basho's popular haiku, in a selected format ideal for newcomers as well as fans long familiar with the Japanese master.Basho, the famously bohemian traveler through seventeenth-century Japan, is a poet attuned to the natural world as well as humble human doings; "Piles of quilts/ snow on distant mountains/ I watch both," he writes. His work captures both the profound loneliness of one observing mind and the broad-ranging joy he finds in our connections to the larger community. David Young, acclaimed translator and Knopf poet, writes in his introduction to this selection, "This poet's consciousness affiliates itself with crickets, islands, monkeys, snowfalls, moonscapes, flowers, trees, and ceremonies...Waking and sleeping, alone and in company, he moves through the world, delighting in its details." Young's translations are bright, alert, musically perfect, and rich in tenderness toward their maker.

Presents the poems that combine 'karumi', or lightness of touch, with the Zen ideal of oneness with creation and evoke the natural world - the cherry blossom, the leaping frog, the summer moon or the winter snow - suggesting the smallness of human life in comparison to the vastness and drama of nature.

A masterful translation of one of the most-loved classics of Japanese literature—part travelogue, part haiku collection, part account of spiritual awakening Bashō (1644–1694)—a great luminary of Asian literature who elevated the haiku to an art form of utter simplicity and intense spiritual beauty—is renowned in the West as the author of Narrow Road to the Interior, a travel diary of linked prose and haiku recounting his journey through the far northern provinces of Japan. This edition, part of the Shambhala Pocket Library series, features a masterful translation of this celebrated work. It also includes an insightful introduction by translator Sam Hamill detailing Bashō’s life and the art of haiku, three other important works by Bashō—Travelogue of Weather-Beaten Bones, The Knapsack Notebook, and Sarashina Travelogue—and two hundred and fifty of his finest haiku, making this the most complete single-volume collection of Bashō’s writings. The Shambhala Pocket Library is a collection of short, portable teachings from notable figures across religious traditions and classic texts. The covers in this series are rendered by Colorado artist Robert Spellman. The books in this collection distill the wisdom and heart of the work Shambhala Publications has published over 50 years into a compact format that is collectible, reader-friendly, and applicable to everyday life.

A collection of Basho's prose works include all of his longer prose pieces--the travel journals and "Saga Diary"--along with eighty short essays in haibun, prose in the spirit of haiku.

In his beautifully crafted haiku, Basho captures the natural world with simplicity and deep feeling. As an ardent student of Zen Buddhism, he embarked on travels aimed at shedding material distractions and seeking spiritual enlightenment. His writings reflect the changing seasons, the scent of rain, the brightness of the moon, and the beauty of waterfalls, revealing the mysteries of the universe. This seventeenth-century travel writing chronicles Basho's challenging journeys through Japan while expressing his vision of eternity in the transient world around him. Nobuyuki Yuasa’s lucid translation preserves the lyrical qualities of Basho's poetry and prose, using contemporary language and rhythms. The introduction explores the haibun style, where poetry and prose coexist, and the edition includes maps and notes for context. For over seventy years, Penguin has been a leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, offering a diverse collection of more than 1,700 titles. Penguin Classics is trusted for its authoritative texts, enhanced by introductions and notes from distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, along with modern translations by award-winning translators.

A classic translation of Basho's most famous travel journal

Matsuo Basho (1644-94) is considered Japan's greatest haiku poet. Narrow Road to the Interior (Oku no Hosomichi) is his masterpiece. Ostensibly a chronological account of the poet's five-month journey in 1689 into the deep country north and west of the old capital, Edo, the work is in fact artful and carefully sculpted, rich in literary and Zen allusion and filled with great insights and vital rhythms. In Basho's Narrow Spring and Autumn Passages , poet and translator Hiroaki Sato presents the complete work in English and examines the threads of history, geography, philosophy, and literature that are woven into Basho's exposition. He details in particular the extent to which Basho relied on the community of writers with whom he traveled and joined in linked verse (renga) poetry sessions, an example of which, A Farewell Gift to Sora , is included in this volume. In explaining how and why Basho made the literary choices he did, Sato shows how the poet was able to transform his passing observations into words that resonate across time and culture.