Yosa Buson

Yosa Buson (1716–1784) was a Japanese poet and painter who helped revive haikai poetry and became a leading figure in literati painting.

Haikai: A Japanese poetic tradition of linked verse and comic or playful composition that developed into several forms, including haiku. Buson wrote within haikai, the broader tradition from which his short poems emerged.
Kigo: A word or phrase in Japanese poetry that signals a season or a particular time of year. Seasonal references give many of Buson’s short poems a precise atmosphere.
Matsuo Bashō: A Japanese poet of the Edo period who transformed haikai and became renowned for his travel writing and haiku. Buson revered Bashō and helped renew interest in his poetry.
Oku no Hosomichi: A travel journal by Matsuo Bashō, combining prose and linked poems from his journey through northern Japan. Buson’s admiration for Bashō grew alongside his engagement with this celebrated travel work.
Haiku: A short Japanese poetic form, commonly composed in three units of five, seven, and five sound units. Buson’s haiku are among his best-known works.
Kireji: A Japanese poetic cutting word that marks a pause or division and can add emphasis or juxtaposition. Cutting words help create the sharp shifts and open endings found in haiku.
Kobayashi Issa: A Japanese poet of the late Edo period known for plainspoken haiku attentive to ordinary life and small creatures. Issa followed Buson as one of the major poets in the haiku tradition.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North: An English title commonly given to Matsuo Bashō’s travel journal Oku no Hosomichi. Its English reception contrasts with the Japanese poetic models Buson studied directly.
Renga: A Japanese form of linked verse composed collaboratively through alternating units of seventeen and fourteen sound units. The linked-verse practice of renga helped shape the poetic culture Buson inherited.
Haiga: A Japanese art form combining a haiku with a painting, often using spontaneous brushwork. Buson’s poems and paintings meet directly in this form.

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