Daily Haiku Archive
Where Did Haiku Begin?
Haiku did not appear fully formed at a single moment. Its history runs through the hokku of linked verse, the artistic development of haikai in the Edo period, and the modern redefinition associated with Masaoka Shiki in the Meiji era.
Matsuo Bashō and the World of Haikai
To see Bashō only as the author of famous isolated haiku is to miss much of his literary world. He worked within haikai linked verse, travel, poetic gatherings, and networks of disciples, transforming the opening verse and the art of relation.
Yosa Buson — Poet and Painter
The eighteenth-century haikai poet Yosa Buson was also an accomplished literati painter. Reading his poetry beside his art sharpens our awareness of viewpoint, distance, light, and spatial composition in haiku.
Kobayashi Issa and Haiku of Everyday Life
Issa’s poetry includes not only affectionate attention to small creatures but also home, family deaths, poverty, fire, and ordinary struggle. His work makes it difficult to separate “nature poetry” neatly from “life poetry.”
