Poet to Know: Matsuo Basho

Matsuo Basho

Even though he lived about four hundred years ago, Basho is still one of Japan’s most admired poets. He was a master of Haiku, a traditional form of Japanese poetry with a special format: 3 lines, with 5, 7, and 5 syllables in each line. Basho travelled all over Japan, observing nature and writing about what he saw. Many poets throughout the world have read Basho’s beautiful poems, and decided to write haiku of their own.

To learn more about Basho, and read some of his poetry, follow these links below.

Bashofinal.mp4

Grass Sandals Video

Watch a video of the book Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho. This wonderful book tells all about Basho's journeys through Japan and the poetry he wrote along the way.

Poets.org

Poets.org has a quick biography of Basho. Click on the Read Poems by this Poet button to the right to read some of his haiku.

Basho-o Kenshokai

Basho-o Kenshokai (Foundation to Honor Basho’s Achievements) has a nice website where you can see some places in Japan dedicated to Basho, including the house where he was born and a cottage where he wrote poetry.

Britannica Kids

Britannica Kids, on our library psbma.org library page, has an article about Basho that will give you a great introduction to his life and work.

How to get there:

  • Click on the Britannica Kids link above

  • Enter password psbma

  • Under Encyclopedias, Britannica Kids

  • In the search box at the top of the page, enter Basho