From Iga City. The table below is his life year by year.
| Year | Age | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 1644 | 0 | Born in Iga Province. As a child he was called Kinsaku; later he took the name Munefusa. |
| 1662 | 19 | Serves the heir of the Todo Shinshichiro family, Yoshitada, who wrote haikai under the name Sengin. Makes his first verse whose year is known. |
| 1666 | 23 | Yoshitada dies at 25. |
| 1672 | 29 | Offers his verse contest “Kai Oi” to the Ueno Tenmangu shrine in Iga, and goes to Edo. |
| 1677 | 34 | For four years he helps with the office work of repairing the Kanda water supply. Around this time he becomes a haikai master. |
| 1681 | 38 | A pupil gives him a basho (banana plant). It grows so well that his hut is called Basho-an, and he begins to use the name Basho. |
| 1682 | 39 | Basho-an burns down in a great fire. |
| 1684 | 41 | Sets out on the journey of “Nozarashi Kiko.” |
| 1686 | 43 | Writes “Furuike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto” at a frog-poem contest at Basho-an. |
| 1689 | 46 | Sets out with Sora on the journey of “Oku no Hosomichi” through the Ou region and along the Hokuriku road. |
| 1691 | 48 | Writes “Saga Nikki” at Rakushisha; “Sarumino” is published. |
| 1694 | 51 | The fair copy of “Oku no Hosomichi” is finished. Falls ill in Osaka, writes “Tabi ni yande …” on the 8th day of the 10th month, and dies on the 12th. |
Basho wrote haikai. Its verses of five, seven and five sounds, seventeen in all, are known as the shortest poems in the world. In them, a poet paints a whole scene and feeling.
Iga City calls Basho the poet who raised haikai, which had been a playful pastime, into an art.
Basho was born in 1644 in Iga Province. In his late teens he became interested in haikai, which was popular in Iga, and began to write verses.
At about the same time he served Yoshitada, the young heir of a samurai family, who also loved haikai. This made Basho even keener.
When Yoshitada died young, Basho lost his way to a career as a samurai. He decided to devote himself to haikai.
He went to Edo, and by his mid-thirties he had become a haikai master with many pupils.
In 1681 a pupil gave him a basho, a kind of banana plant. He planted it at his hut, and it grew so well that the hut was called Basho-an, “the Basho hut.”
From then on he used “Basho” as his name as a poet.
In 1686, at a contest of poems about frogs held at Basho-an, he wrote his most famous verse:
“Furuike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto.” In English: “An old pond — / a frog jumps in, / the sound of water.” (This is our translation.)
Basho often traveled. In 1689 he set out with his pupil Sora on the journey that became Oku no Hosomichi, through the Ou region in the north and along the Hokuriku road.
In 1694 he fell ill in Osaka while traveling. On the 8th day of the 10th month he wrote: “Tabi ni yande / yume wa kareno wo / kakemeguru” — “Sick on a journey, / my dreams go running / over withered fields.” (Our translation.) He died four days later.
Two days before he died, he wrote a will in his own hand to his elder brother. As he wished, he was buried at Gichuji temple.
Iga City has Basho’s birthplace, the room he used as a study, and more than 70 stone tablets carved with his verses.
Every year on October 12, the day of his death, the city holds the Basho Festival, with a national haiku contest.
There is no single right answer. Talking it over with someone at home is a good way to learn.