Stephen Addiss

Los haikus son una de las formas poéticas más conocidas y más apreciadas en el mundo. Son tan sencillos que se pueden enseñar a los niños, aunque asimismo pueden ser fruto de una vida de estudio y de

A poetry collection honoring the haikucomplete with poet biographies, translator commentary, and Japanese artwork This celebration of what is perhaps the most influential of all poetic forms takes haiku back to its Japanese roots. Beginning with poems by the seventeenth and eighteenth-century masters Basho, Busson, and Issa, the anthology goes all the way up to the late twentieth century to provide a survey of haiku through the centuries, in all its minimalist glory. The translators have balanced faithfulness to the Japanese with an appreciation of the unique spirit of each poem to create English versions that evoke the joy and wonder of the originals with the same astonishing economy of language. An introduction by the translators and short biographies of the poets are included. Reproductions of woodblock prints and paintings accompany the poems.

In the past hundred years, haiku has gone far beyond its Japanese origins to become a worldwide phenomenonwith the classic poetic form growing and evolving as it has adapted to the needs of the whole range of languages and cultures that have embraced it. This proliferation of the joy of haiku is cause for celebrationbut it can also compel us to go back to the beginning: to look at haikus development during the centuries before it was known outside Japan. This in-depth study of haiku history begins with the great early masters of the formlike Basho, Buson, and Issaand goes all the way to twentieth-century greats, like Santoka. It also focuses on an important aspect of traditional haiku that is less known in the West: haiku art. All the great haiku masters created paintings (called haiga) or calligraphy in connection with their poems, and the words and images were intended to be enjoyed together, enhancing each other, and each adding its own dimension to the readers and viewers understanding. Here one of the leading haiku scholars of the West takes us on a tour of haiku poetrys evolution, providing along the way a wealth of examples of the poetry and the art inspired by it.