Ume-ga-ka ni
Notto hi no deru
Yamaji kana.
—Basho
On sweet plum blossoms
The sun rises suddenly.
Look, a mountain path!
The combination of the beauty and fragrance of plum blossoms
lining the mountain path as the sun appears over the horizon,
excites the wonder and admiration of the poet.
Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), the greatest haiku writer of all
time, was born in a poor but samurai family in southern Japan.
When quite young he became the page and friend of Sengin, son
of a nobleman, the Lord of Iga Province. Twelve years later, on
the death of Sengin, Basho entered the monastery on Mount
Koya. He did not stay there very long but proceeded to Kyoto,
the capital of the empire, where he studied haiku under Kigin,
and shordy afterwards started his own school. Talented men
became his pupils, quite a number of whom established their own
schools of haiku.