The Essential traveler's Guide To Japan

Basho Matsuo

Basho Matsuo is considered to be the first great poet to write haiku. He was first a samurai who moved to Edo as a young man to work in the water department. In 1680, when he moved into a modest cottage, one of his followers planted a banana tree also known as basho outside his door.  From then, he and his house were known as Basho.

He would often participate in competitions with his friends in which they would link verses called renga that would be two to three lines linked together and from there, Basho gradually developed haiku.