Yosa Buson

Poet & Painter

(1716 – 1784) · East Asia

Eighteenth-century Japanese poet and painter who, alongside Matsuo Basho and Kobayashi Issa, is considered one of the great masters of haiku. Born near Osaka in 1716, he studied both poetry and Chinese literati painting, and his haiku are noted for their vivid visual quality and painterly precision. He led a revival of Basho's style in the mid-Edo period.