My Wikipedia stub link for haikai : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haikai
Matsuo Basho’s poetic spaces exploring haikai intersection By Kerkham, H. Eleanor. Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan. Date published: 11/2006
Haikai In Japan
-The first time in Japanese literary history that the word haikai was first used is at the beginning of the 10th century.Haikai is an idea that goes beyond material forms of art, its a mode of thinking, speaking and acting
– Matsuo Basho was the greatest figure active in Japanese haikai during the latter half of the seventeeth century. He did not only compose haikai poetry but he also created masterpieces in a variety of genres, including renku(linked verse), haibun(haikai- style prose), and haiga(haikai paintings).
Yosen Buson and Masaoka Shiki
-Yosen Buson was a poet and painter that died dec 24th 1783 at 86 years old. Buson was rediscovered in the late Meiji period by the poet and literary critic Masaoka Shiki. Shiki called modern haikai “haiku”. Shiki’s writing during the 19th century made the foundation for the appraisal of Buson’s work for most of the 20th century. He thought of Buson as a painter in words and as a visual poet.
Basho Revival
– A new group of poets began to emerge in the 1760’s and they were using a strategy of looking to the poet for a standard to live up to and they found Matsuo Basho, who had made his life’s work the transformation of haikai into a literary genre. The 18th century reform movement came to be called the Basho Revival which lasted 30 years. The revival movement members were in competition with the tentori poets who neglected them.
