Author Description

As a poet struck by wanderlust, Santōka has enjoyed a reputation comparable to Bashō since the 1960s. He attracted the redoubtable R. H. Blyth, among a number of other translators who have tried their hands at rendering his haiku into English. Here, Hiroaki Sato, one of the leading Japanese translators of our time, captures both Santōka’s simplicity and complexity in its original one-line format. Stephen Addiss’s sensitive and apt brushwork completes the experience.