1. One of the greatest Japanese writers was 17th-century poet Basho. As a young man, he worked for and lived with an upper-class samurai and they both wrote poetry. But when his master suddenly died, his life changed completely.
Matsuo Munefusa, as he was then called, underwent some sort of crisis. Maybe it was depression, disappointment or love - quite possibly all three. But he gave up his regular life and started moving around Japan studying, watching the world and writing poetry.
He was a master of the 'haiku', poems that express a mood in a few carefully chosen words.
This is typical of the Japanese sense of beauty which prefers the simple - a few stones, a flower, a tiny tree - to the rich and elaborate.
2. The details of Basho's life are not at all clear. He seems to have spent quite a lot of time in Kyoto, the ancient city well-known for the elegant lifestyle of its people.
Later, he moved to Edo, the centre of power where the Shogun lived. He seems to have been a restless person who tried many different jobs, but his reputation as a poet continued to grow, and more and more of his work was published.
He was also much valued as a critic and judge of poetry competitions that the Japanese at the time enjoyed so much.