Author Description

A failed student, businessman, employee, and husband, Santoka (1882-1940) wandered through much of Japan as a mendicant Zen monk for the last quarter of his life. While doing so, he kept writing ‘free-rhythm’ haiku that ignored the traditional requirements of a seasonal indicator and the set form of 5-7-5 syllables. One year, he sifted 701 out of the 15,000 pieces he’d composed to make a booklet, and named it Sumokuto (Grass and Tree Cairn). He hit the road again to give the book to his friends. One night, he had a haiku session with some friends, drank while doing so, went to sleep, and died. He had acquired the habit of drinking heavily in his late twenties. As a poet struck by wanderlust, Santoka has enjoyed a reputation comparable to Basho since the 1960s. He attracted the redoubtable R. H. Blyth, and a number of other translators have tried their hands at bringing across Santoka’s haiku in English. Here, Hiroaki Sato, leading translator of Japanese poetry into English, for the first time attempts to recreate Santoka’s simplicity and complexity in the original one-line format. Stephen Addiss’s brushstroke excellence completes the experience.