The second of Japan’s great hokku masters, Yosa Buson (1716-1783), after studying in Edo (modern Tokyo) in his youth, travelled widely in central Japan before finally settling in the ancient capital of Kyoto and adopting it as his home in about 1755. Buson is one of those rare figures, a genius who could turn his hand to anything, and besides being the greatest poet in Eighteenth century Japan, he is renowned for his painting, his calligraphy and his compositions in Chinese. For his hokku, he worked under the slogan of ‘Back to Bashō’, symbolising his desire to return the form to the high levels of art it had occupied under the old master.