Kobayashi Issa

Kobayashi Issa
小林 一茶
Issa's portrait drawn by Muramatsu Shunpo 1772-1858 (Issa Memorial Hall, Shinano, Nagano, Japan)
Issa's portrait drawn by Muramatsu Shunpo 1772-1858 (Issa Memorial Hall, Shinano, Nagano, Japan)
BornKobayashi Nobuyuki (小林 信之)
(1763-06-15)June 15, 1763
Near Shinano-machi, Shinano Province, Japan
DiedJanuary 5, 1828(1828-01-05) (aged 64)
Shinano-machi, Shinano Province, Japan
Pen nameIssa (一茶)
OccupationPoet
NationalityJapanese

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]

  1. ^ Saihōji homepage bio for Issa.
  2. ^ Bostok 2004.
  3. ^ R. H. Blyth, A History of Haiku Vol I (Tokyo 1980) p. 289
  4. ^ Ueda, p.xi