41 - The rise of haikai: Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa

Summary

Haikai as a popular genre fully came into its own in the Edo period, moving from a state of anonymity to a multifaceted genre that had a broad impact on many other cultural forms. Matsuo Basho, who participated in both the Teimon and the Danrin schools, became the most influential haikai poet of the late seventeenth century. Haikai was to evolve significantly after the passing of Basho and his school. One major successor was Yosa Buson, who moved to Edo and became a disciple of Hayano Hajin, a haikai poet who had established the Yahantei circle in Nihonbashi. In the early nineteenth century, after Buson and his successors had died, haikai continued to be popular. The most talented haikai poet of this age was Kobayashi Issa, whose main interest was in the contemporary and quotidian, and who focused on the hokku rather than on linked verse. Issa is considered a highly unorthodox haikai poet.