In the seventeenth century, Basho, one of Japan's finest poets, set out on a solitary age that led him with each season into a gradual withdrawal from the world of men in order to find his way back to a state in which man and literature are one. His observations and impressions are recorded here in haiku and selected prose. It is a companion volume to OF THIS : A Poet's Life in Poetry about noted Japanese haiku poet, Issa, once again provided valuable into the life of a great writer. Buttfield's photographs and Lewis's selection of Basho's combine to form verbal and images complementary to the life of the poet.