# Matsuo Bashō's most famous haiku

From 'The old pond' to his death poem: Bashō's best-known haiku and the opening of The Narrow Road to the Deep North, with the travel journal or collection each comes from.

- 3 votes · 12 items
- May 3, 2021 · 鈴木 沙織
- https://even.best/en/l/2105/matsuo-basho-s-most-famous-haiku

## Top 12

1. **The old pond — a frog jumps in, the sound of water** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Kawazu-awase (1686). The haiku everyone associates with Bashō.
2. **The months and days are travellers of a hundred ages; the years that come and go are travellers too** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Opening of The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
3. **Even my grass hut will change hands — now a house of dolls** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — The Narrow Road to the Deep North, setting out.
4. **Summer grasses — all that remains of warriors' dreams** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Narrow Road to the Deep North, at Hiraizumi.
5. **Such stillness — the cicadas' cry seeps into the rocks** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Narrow Road to the Deep North, at Risshaku-ji.
6. **Gathering the rains of early summer — how swift the Mogami River** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Narrow Road to the Deep North, on the Mogami River.
7. **The rough sea — stretching out towards Sado, the Milky Way** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Narrow Road to the Deep North, in Echigo.
8. **Sick on a journey, my dreams go wandering over withered fields** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — His last poem, regarded as his death verse (1694).
9. **Deep autumn — my neighbour, what does he do?** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — One of his last poems (1694).
10. **Coming along the mountain path — somehow so lovely, wild violets** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Journal of Bleached Bones in a Field.
11. **This road — no one walks along it, autumn dusk** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — A late poem (1694).
12. **On a withered branch a crow has settled — autumn evening** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — One of his early signature poems.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.