The Essays in a Wood Backpack: BashŌ's Haikus and Haikus Inspired by Them Part 2

By Mayumi Itoh

This bilingual haiku collection is a homage to Oi no kobumi (Essays in a Wood Backpack, 1709) by Matsuo Bashō ("Bashō" hereafter, 1644-November 1694). Oi no kobumi is a travel journal of Bashō with essays and haikus, plus some haikus by his disciples. Bashō was the grand master of haiku during the Edo period. He is referred to as the "haiku saint" for his contributions to perfecting haiku as an art form and establishing haiku as a genre in poetry in its own right, which was the initial phrase (hokku) to lead 'chain haikai poetry'(renku) of group haikai reading.
This haiku collection (2021) presents all of the 53 haikus Bashō wrote in Oi no kobumi in the exact order in which one of his disciples, Kawai Otokuni, compiled them (he did not follow chronological order), along with English translations and annotations. For each of Bashō's haikus, an original haiku by this author, inspired by this particular haiku of Bashō and using the same season word (or equivalent season word), is given-first in Japanese and then in English.
This method of presenting the haikus by Bashō and by this author seems appropriate, as haiku started out as the initial phrase of the chain haikai poetry for the participants to follow in a haikai reading session. Now, readers can begin the journey to the west of Japan, as far as Suma (Kobe), following the footsteps of this great poet. Enjoy!

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B09K25MQD2
• ISBN13: 9798751986773
• Release Date: October 2021
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"