Book of the Week: Haiku, Volume 3: Summer and Autumn

This book. by R.H Blyth, is the third of a four part comprehensive study of classical Japanese haiku. It contains many inspiring passages about the nature of haiku and one of these is: “The brevity of haiku is not something different from, but a part of the poetical life; it is not only a form of expression but a mode of living more immediately, more closely to life.” Some of the chapters are: Sky and Elements, Fields and Mountains, Gods and Buddhas and Birds and Beasts.

The voices of village people
Irrigating the fields;
The summer moon.

— Buson

The change of clothes;
Spring, alas, has disappeared
Into the long chest.

— Saikaku

All! Summer grasses!
All that remains
Of the warriors’ dreams.

— Basho

You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library.

Do you have a chapbook published in 2015 or earlier that you would like featured as a Book of the Week? Contact us for details. Haiku featured in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by THF Digital Librarian Dan Campbell and are used with permission.