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Portrait of Matsuo Basho by Hokusai –

Top Ten Amazing Facts about Matsuo Basho

Matsuo Basho was born in 1644 near Ueno, Iga Province. His father is suspected to be a musokuni. His family was of Samurai descent. It was also in the class of landowning peasants who were granted certain privileges of samurai.

Little of his childhood is known. He was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. To be exclusive, the Edo period is the period between 1603 and 1867 n the history of Japan. In the article are the top ten amazing facts about Matsuo Basho.

1. Basho was introduced to poetry at a young age

After integrating himself into the intellectual scene of Edo (modern Tokyo) he quickly became well known throughout Japan. He became a teacher and this became his living then.

Later Basho denounced the urban life of the literal circles and he preferred moving to all parts of the country. He headed west, east, and far into the northern wilderness to gain inspiration for his writing.

2. He is well-known for his travel essays

Portrait of Basho’s Journey by Matsuo Basho –

To be exact, Basho started wandering throughout the country to gain inspiration for his writing. His poems were influenced by his firsthand experience of the world around him. He often expressed the essential features of a scene succinctly in a few elements.

One of his travel essays is called The Records of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton. The travel essay was written in 1684. It exclusively covers Basho’s journey. According to translator Noboyuki Yuasa, it is the first work by Basho where we find a clear picture of his mature nature.

3. Basho went to Edo to further his study in poetry

After moving to Edo, Basho’s poetry was quickly recognized for its simple and natural style. The fashionable literary circles of Nihonbashi are accredited for Basho’s recognition in the new place. It was in 1674 when Bashowas inducted into the inner circle of the haikai profession after he received secret teachings from Kitamura Kigin.

4. Basho was invited to compose for Nishiyama Soin

Nishiyama Soin was a haiku-no-renga poet of the early Tokugawa period. He was the founder and leader of the Danrin school, a school of haiku poetry. He came to Edo in 1675 and invited a group of poets to comprise for him. Basho was among the poets invited.

It was on this occasion that Basho gave himself the haigo of Tosei. By 160, Basho had a full-time job teaching twenty disciples, who published The Best Poems of Tosei’s Twenty Disciples. The disciples were actually advertising their talent to Tosei.

5. Matsuo Basho was unobtrusive

Portrait of Matsuo Basho by Takebe Socho –

Basho wandered throughout the country out of the public eye. He wanted a more reclusive life. He moved across the river to Fukagawa that winter white as a teacher of the 20 disciples. The disciples built him a rustic ut and planet a Japanese banana tree in the yard.

This hut was a new home to Baso and also his first permanent home. He appreciated the banana plant very much. Basho was frustrated though to see Fukagawa’s native miscanthus growing alongside it.

The funny thing is that Basho wrote a poem disregarding the grass alongside his banana tree. According to his 1680 poem, he said, ” by my new plant/ the first sign of something I loathe- / a miscanthus bud! ”

6. Matsuo Basho fell into misfortunes in two consecutive years

Basho began to practice Zen meditation which seemed not to have calmed him down. In the winter of 1682, Basho’s hut was burnt down. In 1683 a few months after the fire in his home, his mother passed on. To him, it must have been misfortunes never come singly.

Basho then moved to a friend in Yamura. His disciples gave him a second hut in Edu but he was still dispirited. His disciple Takarai Kikaku published a compilation of him and other poets in 1684. The compilation was called Shriveled Chestnuts.

7. East or West home was the best for Basho

Portrait of Matsuo Basho by Buson –

After his trips from Edo to Mount Fuji, and Kyoto where he actually made many poets who called themselves his followers, Basho decided to return to Edo. This was precisely the summer of 1685. On his way obviously, he wrote more hokku and comment on his life.

Some of the lines in his along-the-way poems are “another year is gone/ a traveler’s shade on my head, / straw sandals at my feet). Basho happily resumed his job as a teacher. Home surely was the best for him even though again he was planning for another journey.

8. The poem about the frogs became instantly famous

Portrait of Basho by Sugiyama Sanpu –

In early 1686, Basho composed another poem which was one of his best-remembered haiku. ” an ancient pond / a frog jumps in  / the splash of water “. According to historians, the poem was famous. 

other poets even gathered at Basho’s hut for a haiku no renga contest on the subject of frogs. It seems that the subject of frogs must have been a tribute to Basho’s hokku, which was placed at the top of the compilation.

9. Basho traveled to the countryside for moon watching

Matsuo Basho at the moon festival by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi –

Basho loved nature very much because it gave him a heap of inspirations which helped to write his poems. With an excursion in the autumn of 1687, Basho traveled to the countryside for moon watching. In 1688, he further took a longer trip to Ueno to celebrate the Lunar New year.

On 16 May 1689, Basho left Edo with his student and apprentice Kawai Sora yo the Nothern Provinces of Honshu. The two went further north to Hiraizumi and then headed west to Kisakata. The 150 day journey was 2, 400 km. He returned in edu in 1691.

 This time at his third hut, Basho returned with with a nephew, and his female friend, jutei. The two were recovering from silliness. Basho received many visitors and therefore became aneasy. He shut the gate to his basho hut and refused those anyone for a month.

10. Bash died in the summer of 1694

Monument of Matsuo Basho by Yanajin33 –

This was the last journey that Basho had in his lifetime. He became sick while he was spending time in Ueno and Kyoto before his arrival in Osaka. He had a stomach illness and died peacefully , surrounded by his disciples. He did not compose any formal poem in his deathbed. 

His last poem was recorded during his illness and is generally accepted as his farewell poem. Some of the lines in the poem are ” falling sick on journey / my dream goes wandering / Over a field of dried grass )

Basho aspired to reflect on his real environment and emotions rather than sticking to the formulas of Kigo. During the 18th century, appreciation of Basho’s poems grew more fervent, and commentators such as Ishiko Sekisui and Moro Nanimaru looked for references in hokku to historical events, medieval books, and other poems. Critical interpretation of Basho’s poems continued up to the 20th century.