Basho-o Seika

(Basho's Birth House)

Matsuo Basho was born in 1644 and had lived in this house until he moved to Edo, present Tokyo, at the age of 29. In the studio called Chogetsu-ken behind the birth house, he studied haiku and compiled his first collection of haiku. In Edo he established a new style of haiku and elevated it from a simple comical epigram to a refined form of literature. He wrote travel journals and composed many excellent haiku while traveling throughout Japan.