WRITER

Matsuo Bashō

1644 - 1694

Photo of Matsuo Bashō

Icon of person Matsuo Bashō

Matsuo Bashō (松尾 芭蕉, 1644 – November 28, 1694); born Matsuo Kinsaku (松尾 金作), later known as Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa (松尾 忠右衛門 宗房) was the most famous Japanese poet of the Edo period. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku (then called hokku). He is also well known for his travel essays beginning with Records of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton (1684), written after his journey west to Kyoto and Nara. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Matsuo Bashō has received more than 1,168,718 page views. His biography is available in 159 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 156 in 2019). Matsuo Bashō is the 96th most popular writer (up from 123rd in 2019), the 9th most popular biography from Japan (up from 11th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular Japanese Writer.

Matsuo Bashō is most famous for his work "Oku no Hosomichi" which is a travelogue of his journey through Japan.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 77.28

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 159

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.00

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 6.41

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Oku no hosomichi
1982
Bashō kushū
1949
Basho's Haiku
Philosophy
A wonderful new translation of the poetry of Basho—Zen monk, poet of nature, and master of the haiku form.
2004
Back Roads to Far Towns
1968
Poems
Poetry
Matsuo Basho stands today as Japan's most renowned writer, and one of the most revered. Yet despite his stature, Basho's complete haiku have never been collected under one cover. Until now. To render the writer's full body of work in English, Jane Reichhold, an American haiku poet and translator, dedicated over ten years to the present compilation. In Barbo: The Complete Haiku she accomplishes the feat with distinction. Dividing the poet's creative output into seven periods of development, Reichhold frames each period with a decisive biographical sketch of the poet's travels, creative influences, and personal triumphs and defeats. Supplementary material includes two hundred pages of scrupulously researched notes, which also contain a literal translation of the poem, the original Japanese, and a Romanized reading. A glossary, chronology, index of first lines, and explanation of Basho's haiku techniques provide additional background information. Finally in the spirit of Basho, elegant semi-e ink drawings by well-known Japanese artist Shiro Tsujimura front each chapter.
19324 / 5

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Matsuo Bashō ranks 96 out of 7,302. Before him are Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Henry David Thoreau, Jack London, Toni Morrison, Erich Maria Remarque, and Emily Brontë. After him are George Sand, Marquis de Sade, Jonathan Swift, Ismail I, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1644, Matsuo Bashō ranks 2. Before him is Antonio Stradivari. After him are Ole Rømer, Henrietta of England, Louise de La Vallière, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Galdan Boshugtu Khan, Jakob Ammann, Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours, Louis-François de Boufflers, François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy, and Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha. Among people deceased in 1694, Matsuo Bashō ranks 2. Before him is Mary II of England. After him are Marcello Malpighi, Samuel von Pufendorf, Antoine Arnauld, Natalya Naryshkina, Francesco Morosini, Suleiman of Persia, Pierre Puget, John George IV, Elector of Saxony, Hishikawa Moronobu, and Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma.

Others Born in 1644

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Others Deceased in 1694

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In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Matsuo Bashō ranks 9 out of 6,245. Before him are Hokusai (1760), Akihito (1933), Miyamoto Musashi (1584), Akira Kurosawa (1910), Emperor Meiji (1852), and Oda Nobunaga (1534). After him are Haruki Murakami (1949), Yukio Mishima (1925), Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542), Naruhito (1960), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536), and Emperor Taishō (1879).

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Among WRITERS In Japan

Among writers born in Japan, Matsuo Bashō ranks 2. Before him are Miyamoto Musashi (1584). After him are Haruki Murakami (1949), Yukio Mishima (1925), Yasunari Kawabata (1899), Osamu Dazai (1909), Murasaki Shikibu (973), Kenzaburō Ōe (1935), Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892), Natsume Sōseki (1867), Kazuo Ishiguro (1954), and Kōbō Abe (1924).

Japanese born Writers

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