WRITER

Matsuo Bashō

1644 - 1694

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Matsuo Bashō (松尾 芭蕉; Japanese pronunciation: [ma.tsɯ.o (|) ba.ɕoː], 1644 – November 28, 1694); born Matsuo Kinsaku (松尾 金作), later known as Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa (松尾 忠右衛門 宗房) was the most famous Japanese poet of the Edo period. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku (then called hokku). He is also well known for his travel essays beginning with Records of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton (1684), written after his journey west to Kyoto and Nara. Matsuo Bashō's poetry is internationally renowned, and, in Japan, many of his poems are reproduced on monuments and traditional sites. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Matsuo Bashō is the 39th most popular writer (up from 96th in 2019), the 2nd most popular biography from Japan (up from 9th in 2019) and the most popular Japanese Writer.

Matsuo Bashō is most famous for his work "Oku no Hosomichi" which is a travelogue of his journey through Japan.

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Among WRITERS

Among writers, Matsuo Bashō ranks 39 out of 7,302Before him are Agatha Christie, H. G. Wells, Khalil Gibran, Anne Frank, George Orwell, and Charles Dickens. After him are Hermann Hesse, Emily Dickinson, Ernest Hemingway, Horace, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Alexander Pushkin.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1644, Matsuo Bashō ranks 1After him are Antonio Stradivari, Ole Rømer, Henrietta of England, Louise de La Vallière, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours, Galdan Boshugtu Khan, Jakob Ammann, Louis-François de Boufflers, François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy, and Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha. Among people deceased in 1694, Matsuo Bashō ranks 2Before him is Mary II of England. After him are Marcello Malpighi, Samuel von Pufendorf, Natalya Naryshkina, Antoine Arnauld, Francesco Morosini, Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma, Suleiman of Persia, John George IV, Elector of Saxony, Hishikawa Moronobu, and Pierre Puget.

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In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Matsuo Bashō ranks 2 out of 6,245Before him are Hirohito (1901). After him are Hokusai (1760), Hayao Miyazaki (1941), Akihito (1933), Oda Nobunaga (1534), Akira Kurosawa (1910), Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542), Emperor Meiji (1852), Miyamoto Musashi (1584), Naruhito (1960), and Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536).

Among WRITERS In Japan

Among writers born in Japan, Matsuo Bashō ranks 1After him are Miyamoto Musashi (1584), Haruki Murakami (1949), Yukio Mishima (1925), Yasunari Kawabata (1899), Murasaki Shikibu (973), Osamu Dazai (1909), Kenzaburō Ōe (1935), Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892), Natsume Sōseki (1867), Kazuo Ishiguro (1954), and Sei Shōnagon (966).