Haiku Society

Buson

Yosa Buson was the second of the great masters of haiku during the Edo or Tokugawa period in Japan. Born as Taniguchi Buson in 1716, he moved to Edo to study painting and haiku in 1737 after losing both his parents. Buson studied with Hayano Hajin, a poet who had worked with Takarai Kikaku, a main student of Matsuo Basho. After Hajin's death in 1742, Buson went about touring northern Japan, establishing Kyoto as his home in 1751. He spent a large portion of his following years attempting to establish himself as a painter. Some of his best visual artwork was done during his stay in Myohoji and include Sotetsu zu (the Cycad), Take no zu (the Bamboo), Jurojin no zu (Saint Jurojin), Sansui zu (Landscape), and Kanzan Jittoku zu (St. Kanzan and St. Jittoku). His attentions eventually gravitated from painting to haiku as he attained leadership of Hajin's Yahantei haikai school in 1770. As his passion for haiku was rekindled with even more flare, Buson became more active in the haikai community and was an integral aspect of the Back to Basho Movement. Buson and his colleagues aimed to restore haiku to the simple yet inspired style of the great master, Basho. The movement fused elements of classic haiku with suggestions of modern day life in a traditional manner. The poetry group published his first book in 1772. In 1777, Buson published Yahanraku and in 1783, Ujiyuki.

Buson married in 1760 and had a daughter named Kuno. He also proved his skills as one of the finest painters of Japan in the Edo period with the creation of a set of ten screens in 1771. Buson's skill and artistic eye contributed to the detailed imagery of his poetry which depicted picturesque images. His aim was to transcend the landscape he described by touching upon the essence of its being. On his deathbed in 1783, Buson composed three poems which were published in The Anthology of Buson's Haiku in 1784. He was also an accomplished writer or Chinese poetry.