Moon Woke Me Up Nine Times by Matsuo Basho

Moon Woke Me Up Nine Times

Selected Haiku of Basho

Matsuo Basho

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Print & ebook · April 2, 2013

Vivid new translations of Basho's popular haiku, in a selected format ideal for newcomers as well as fans long familiar with the Japanese master.

Buy on Amazon

We earn from qualifying purchases.

Who it’s for
Basho’s haiku hold solitude and human connection in tender, alert attention to the world.
Themes
Nature and everyday life, Loneliness and community, Haiku poetry
Genres
Haiku, Japanese Poetry, Nature Poetry

Nearest books

Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved. Most of these share its genres: Haiku and Japanese Poetry.

  1. The Pocket HaikuBasho, Buson77% match
  2. The Haiku Handbook #25th Anniversary EditionWilliam J. Higginson, Penny Harter67% match
  3. Intro to HaikuHarold Gould Henderson64% match
  4. One Hundred Poets, One Poem EachPeter Macmillan64% match
  5. A Beginner's Guide to Japanese HaikuWilliam Scott Wilson74% match
  6. Bushido: the Samurai Code of JapanInazo Nitobe, Alexander Bennett48% match
  7. HaikuOrnella Civardi71% match
  8. Soseki Natsume's Collected HaikuSoseki Natsume68% match

For younger readers: Climbing the Volcano, Voices in the Air, Japanese and English Nursery Rhymes

Start with three books, and this one can be the first.

Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.

Start with this book

About this book

Vivid new translations of Basho's popular haiku, in a selected format ideal for newcomers as well as fans long familiar with the Japanese master. Basho, the famously bohemian traveler through seventeenth-century Japan, is a poet attuned to the natural world as well as humble human doings; "Piles of quilts/ snow on distant mountains/ I watch both," he writes.

Continue reading

His work captures both the profound loneliness of one observing mind and the broad-ranging joy he finds in our connections to the larger community. David Young, acclaimed translator and Knopf poet, writes in his introduction to this selection, "This poet's consciousness affiliates itself with crickets, islands, monkeys, snowfalls, moonscapes, flowers, trees, and ceremonies...Waking and sleeping, alone and in company, he moves through the world, delighting in its details." Young's translations are bright, alert, musically perfect, and rich in tenderness toward their maker.

Small Bright Details

Basho’s haiku hold solitude and human connection in tender, alert attention to the world.

Come here for

  • Nature seen with a poet’s attentive eye
  • A quiet balance of loneliness and shared joy

Expect

  • Brief poems rich in detail and tenderness
  • Bright, musical translations by David Young

Where it sits

Japanese Poetry86%
Haiku58%
Nature Poetry50%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Asian Literary Collections
  • Japanese Literary Collections
  • Japanese Poetry
Authors
Matsuo Basho
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published
April 2, 2013
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Nature and everyday life · Loneliness and community · Haiku poetry
Reading lane
Asian Literary Collections