The Art of Haiku

While haiku is one of the best known forms of poetry, it is less known that the poems were often accompanied by calligraphy and paintings. In this history of traditional Japanese haiku, the development of the poetic form is fully explored; deepening this history is a look at the role of haiku paintings, called haiga. From the great haiku poets like Basho, Buson, and Issa, as well as the twentieth-century poets like Santoka, all the leading masters created paintings, or at least calligraphy, with their haiku, and the interaction of text and image is especially interesting since the two are so closely interwoven. Full of examples of the poems and the art, this is one of the few histories of haiku that also explores the visual aspect of the art.

Stephen Addiss, PhD, is Professor of Art at the University of Richmond in Virginia. A scholar-artist, he has exhibited his ink paintings and calligraphy in Asia, Europe, and the United States. He is also the author or coauthor of more than thirty books and catalogues about East Asian arts, including The Sound of One Hand: The Paintings and Calligraphy of Zen Master Hakuin.