Basho, Matsuo ___ 1644-1694 ___ Japanese ___ poet

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Basho was born in Ueno, in Iga Province, near Kyoto, the son of a low-ranking samurai. He worked for a local lord who, like him, was interested in poetry. By 1664, Basho's poems were being published. When his master had died he abandoned his status as a serving warrior and moved to Edo (now Tokyo) where he became recognised as a master of haiku, and attracted many followers. Basho reacted to his fame, and turned to Zen meditation for solace. He is known to have lived much of his life in a series of huts, and to have made several long journeys on foot, which he described in diary form (along side poems and philosophical musings).
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - Bright in the sun

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1684-1691 ___ literary travel nature health self

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext (in Japanese)
some information
about

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Saga Diary
The Narrow Road to Oku
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
 

December 2005, September 2008, March 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.