Kobayashi Issa 小林 一茶 | |
|---|---|
 Issa's portrait drawn by Muramatsu Shunpo 1772-1858 (Issa Memorial Hall, Shinano, Nagano, Japan) | |
| Born | Kobayashi Nobuyuki (小林 信之) June 15, 1763 Near Shinano-machi, Shinano Province, Japan |
| Died | January 5, 1828 (aged 64) Shinano-machi, Shinano Province, Japan |
| Pen name | Issa (一茶) |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Nationality | Japanese |
Kobayashi Issa (小林 一茶, June 15, 1763 – January 5, 1828)[1] was a Japanese poet and lay Buddhist priest of the Jōdo Shinshū. He is known for his haiku poems and journals. He is better known as simply Issa (一茶), a pen name meaning Cup-of-tea[2] (lit. "one [cup of] tea"). He is regarded as one of the four haiku masters in Japan, along with Bashō, Buson and Shiki — "the Great Four."[3]
Reflecting the popularity and interest in Issa as man and poet, Japanese books on Issa outnumber those on Buson and almost equal in number those on Bashō.[4]
- ^ Saihōji homepage bio for Issa.
- ^ Bostok 2004.
- ^ R. H. Blyth, A History of Haiku Vol I (Tokyo 1980) p. 289
- ^ Ueda, p.xi