(This video is very well done.)
Basho was born in 1644 in Ueno, Iga province. The son of a low ranking samurai, he studied haiku composition while in service to a young feudal lord after his father's death. He also studied Japanese and Chinese classics at a monastery in Kyoto.
Taking the name Basho from a banana tree that had been planted outside his first hut near Edo (now Tokyo) he traveled on walking journeys around Japan observing nature closely and writing haiku and prose in a journal. Since he lived in era when culture --literature, drama and painting--was at a great height, he was welcomed at monasteries and at the homes of other poetry enthusiasts. He lived at times in huts in the mountains Isolating himself from society
When he died at age 50 in 1695, he had 2000 followers of his school of haiku.Teacher and critic, his publications include travel sketches and anthologies of his own and his students' poetry. He is famous for living his life in a manner consistent with his poetry and for elevating haiku [hokku] to a mature form. "Follow nature...return to nature" Basho advised in the 17th century. His words speak to us today.
[Text from Morning Mist: Basho and Thoreau Through the Seasons, an Inkling book by Mary Kullberg, which I believe is out of print]
