Kobayashi Issa Born: 15 June 1753, Kashiwabara, Japan Nationality: Japanese Died: 5 January 1828, Shinano Province, Japan
Issa was a poet and lay Buddhist priest of the Jōdo Shinshū sect best known for his haiku poems and journals. Known simply as Issa, a pen name meaning Cup-of-tea, he is regarded as one of the Great Four along with Bashō, Buson, and Shiki. A reflection on the popularity in Issa as a man and poet is shown in the Japanese books on Issa are almost equal to those written on Bashō and outnumber those on Buson
Issa was the first son of a farming family in Kashiwabara, now part of Shinano-machi, Shinano Province. His mother died when he was three years old, the first of many challenges to face the young boy. Issa’s grandmother cared for him until five years later when life changed again with his father’s remarriage and two years later the birth of his half-brother. Issa was 14 when his grandmother died and he felt estranged in his own home. A moody, lonely child Issa preferred to wander in the fields to his home life, an attitude that was none too pleasing to his stepmother.
Issa was sent to Edo by his father when he was 15 in order to make a living. Virtually nothing is known of the next decade of his life, however, his name is associated with Kobayashi Chikua of the Nirokuan haiku school. Issa’s father died in 1801 and he fought over his inheritance with his stepmother. He also wrote a journal now known as the “Last Days of Issa’s Father”.
Issa secured rights to half of the property left by his father after years of legal battles. At the age of 49 he returned to his native village and found a wife, Kiku. After a short period of marital bliss, tragedy struck with their first child dying shortly after birth and less than two and half years later their daughter died. A third child died in 1820, In 1823 Kiku became ill and died. Issa married twice later in his life, and despite so much tragedy, he produced a large body of work. His third wife died when he was 61.
Issa died in 1828 in his native village,
Face of the spring moon by Kobayashi Issa
Face of the spring moon– about twelve years old, I’d say.
Matsuo Basho Born: 1644, Iga Province, Japan Nationality: Japanese Died: 28 November 1694, Osaka, Japan
Matsuo Bashō was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. He was recognized for his poetry in the hakai no renga form during his lifetime. Today he is considered the greatest hokku, haiku master. Bashō’s poetry is globally renowned and in Japan, his poems are reproduced on monuments and other traditional sites. Although justifiably famous for his hokku, he believed his best work was leading and participating in renku.
Introduced to poetry at an early age Bashō integrated himself into the intellectual scene of Edo (modern Tokyo) and quickly became well-known throughout Japan. He made a living as a teacher but renounced the social, urban life of literary circles to wander throughout Japan to gain inspiration for his poetry which was influenced by his own experiences of the world around him.
Born in the Iga Province, Japan, the Matsuo family were of Samurai descent and his father is thought to have been a musokunin, a class of landowner peasants granted privileges of Samurai. Very little is known of Bashō’s childhood, however, became a servant to Tōdō Yoshitada in his late teens, probably in some humble capacity, and was probably not promoted to the full samurai class.
Bashō shared Yoshitada’s love of the collaborative poetry composition, the haikai no renga. A sequence opened with a verse of 5-7- mora, the hokku, and centuries later it became the haiku presented as a stand-alone poem. The hokku would be followed by a related 7-7 mora verse by another poet. Both Bashō and Yoshitada used a haigō, a haikai pen name. Bashō’s was Sōbō, the Sino-Japanese reading of his adult name. In 1662 the first extant poem by Bashō was published.
In 1695, together with some acquaintances, Bashō and Yashitada composed a hyakuin, a one-hundred-verse renku. Yashitada’s death in 1666 brought an end to Bashōs peaceful life as a servant and it is believed Bashō gave up on the possibility of samurai status and left home. His poems continued to be published in anthologies in 1667, 1668, and 1671, and a compilation of his work and that by others, The Seashell Game in 1672. Also in 1672, Bashō moved to Edo to continue his study of poetry.
Quickly recognised in the fashionable literary circles of Nihonbashi, Bashõ’s poetry was acclaimed for its simple and natural style. He was inducted into the inner circles of the haikai professional in 1674 and received its secret teachings from Kitamura Kigin.
In 1675, Nishyama Sōin, leader of the Danrin School of Haiku, travelled to Edo from Osaka and Bashō was one of the poets invited to compose with him. Bashō gave himself the haigō of Tōsei and by 1680 he had a full-time job teaching his twenty disciples who went on to publish The Best Poems of Tōsei’s Twenty Disciples. That winter, Bashō moved across the river to Fukagawa and out of the public eye. His disciples built him a rustic hut and planted a Japanese banana tree in the grounds giving Bashō his first permanent home and a new haigō
Bashō grew lonely and dissatisfied despite his success and began to practice Zen meditation, however, it doesn’t seem that calmed his mind. In 1682 his hut burned down and early in 1683, his mother died. Following his mother’s death he travelled to Yamura to stay with a friend. Bashō’s disciples gave him a second hut in the winter of 1983, however, his spirits didn’t improve and in 1684 he left Edo on the first of four major wanderings.
Bashō travelled alone and off the beaten path of the Edo Five Routes which in medieval Japan were considered immensely dangerous. Initially, Bashō expected to die in the middle of nowhere or be murdered by bandits. His mood improved as his journey progressed and he began to enjoy being on the road. Bashō enjoyed the changing scenery and the seasons. His poetry became less introspective and more striking in his observations of the world around him. Bashō’s trip took him from Edo to Mount Fuji, Ueno, and Kyoto. He met poets who referred to themselves as his disciples and sought his advice. In the summer of 1685, he returned to Edo, writing more hokku and comments on his own life. On his return to Edo Bashō resumed his job as a teacher of poetry at his hut, however, he was already planning another journey.
The poets of Edo gathered at the bashō hut for a haiku no renga contest on the subject of frogs, which seems to have been a tribute to Bashō’s hokku which placed top of the compilation. Bashō stayed in Edo teaching and holding contests. In the autumn of 1687, he took an excursion to the countryside for moon watching, and in 1688 he made a longer trip, returning to Ueno for the Lunar New Year celebrations. By the time Bashō arrived in Ōgaki, Gifu Prefecture, he had finished the log of his journey. After editing and redacting it for three years, the final version, “The Narrow Road to the Interior,” was completed in 1694, and published, posthumously, in 1702. It is considered Bashō’s finest achievement, and was a great commercial success, with many poets following the path of his journey.
Bashō lived in his third bashō hut on his return to Edo in 1691, again provided by his followers. However, this time he was not alone; his nephew, Toin, and a female friend, Julei, both recovering from illness, lived with him. He also had many visitors. Bashō was uneasy and wrote to a friend that he had no peace of mind. He continued to earn a living from teaching and appearances at haikai gatherings until August 1693 when he shut the gate to his hut and refused to see anyone for a month. After adopting the principle of karumi he relented and regreeted the outside world instead of separating himself from it. He left Edo for the last time in the summer of 1694 spending time in Ueno and Kyoto before travelling to Osaka where he developed a stomach illness and died peacefully, surrounded by his followers.
falling sick on a journey my dreams go wandering over a field of dried grass Basho
Untitled 1971 Documentary Photography Gelatin silver print Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Whist on honeymoon with his wife and favourite muse in 1971 Araki bought a camera to photograph the trip. In this image, taken on the Yanagawa River, Yoko is sleeping on a rowboat. Along with the other photographs he took on the trip it became a series entitled £Sentimental Journey,” one of Araki’s best-known and most acclaimed works.
Nobuyoshi Araki
Nobuyoshi Araki Street Photography, Fashion Photography, Documentary Photography, Modern Photography Born: 25 May 1945, Tokyo, Japan Nationality: Japanese
Araki is a photographer and contemporary artist, primarily known for his photography that blends eroticism and bondage in a fine art context
Sachin 1963 Documentary Photography Silver gelatin print Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, England
From Araki’s first series, “Sachin” portrays a boy on his back on the ground, doubled in laughter because his older brother is tickling him. Other photographs from the series show the boys playing around the run-down apartment blocks of the Shitamachi area. Conveying a sense of nostalgia for childhood the Sachin series won a Taiyo award for photographic reportage.
Nobuyoshi Araki Street Photography, fashion Photography, Documentary Photography, Modern Photography Born: 25 May 1945, Tokyo, Japan Nationality: Japanese
Araki is a photographer and contemporary artist, primarily known for his photography that blends eroticism and bondage in a fine art context
Last time, I think, I’ll brush the flies from my father’s face
Kobayashi Issa 1763-1828
Kobayashi Issa Born: 15 June 1763, Kashiwabara, Japan Nationality: Japanese Died: 5 January 1828, Shinano Province, Japan
Issa was a poet and lay Buddhist priest of the Jōdo Shinshū best known for his haiku poems and journals. Known simply as Issa, meaning a Cup-of-Tea, he is considered one of the ‘Great Four’ haiku masters in Japan
Kobayashi Issa Born: 15 June 1763, Kashiwabara, Japan Nationality: Japanese Died: 5 January 1828, Shinano Province, Japan
Issa was a poet and lay Buddhist priest of the Jōdo Shinshū best known for his haiku poems and journals,. Known simply as Issa, meaning a Cup-of-Tea, he is considered one of the ‘Great Four’ haiku masters in Japan
A bath when you’re born, a bath when you die, how stupid
Kobayashi Issa
Kobayashi Issa Born: 15 June 1763, Kashiwabara, Japan Nationality: Japanese Died: 5 January 1828, Shinano Province, Japan
Issa was a poet and lay Buddhist priest of the Jōdo Shinshū best known for his haiku poems and journals,. Known simply as Issa, meaning a Cup-of-Tea, he is considered one of the ‘Great Four’ haiku masters in Japan
Pissing in the snow outside my door– it makes a very straight hole
Kobayashi Issa
Kobayashi Issa Born: 15 June 1763, Kashiwabara, Japan Nationality: Japanese Died: 5 January 1828, Shinano Province, Japan
Issa was a poet and lay Buddhist priest of the Jōdo Shinshū best known for his haiku poems and journals,. Known simply as Issa, meaning a Cup-of-Tea, he is considered one of the ‘Great Four’ haiku masters in Japan
That pretty girl– munching and rustling the wrapped-up rice cake
Kobayashi Issa
Kobayashi Issa Born: 15 June 1763, Kashiwabara, Japan Nationality: Japanese Died: 5 January 1828, Shinano Province, Japan
Issa was a poet and lay Buddhist priest of the Jōdo Shinshū best known for his haiku poems and journals,. Known simply as Issa, meaning a Cup-of-Tea, he is considered one of the ‘Great Four’ haiku masters in Japan
Jezzie G 