Haiku

 Haiku is a traditional Japanese poem with s strict verse form of 17 syllables in a 5-7-5 line pattern including a seasonal word in it. With this scarcity of words, people have tried to express their feelings or intuitive perception toward nature and life. It originated and became most popular among townsfolk in Edo era about 300 years ago. The most notable poet of Haiku is Basho Matsuo, who travelled across the country in 17th century and wrote “Oku no Hosomichi (奥の細道)”, literally translated as “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”, which consisted of a prose and verse “Haiku” and considered as one of the important classical Japanese literature. 
 The following are some pieces of his Haiku with its English translated version by Donald Keens. , an emeritus professor of Columbia university;

“The ancient pond　　　　　　　　　　
A frog leaps in
The sound of the water.”

“Stricken on a journey,
My dreams go wandering round
Withered fields.”

“Autumn has deepened
I wonder what the man next door
Does for a living ?”

 According to his “Oku no Hosomichi”, he departed Edo (current Tokyo) on March 27,1689 and 3 days after he visited Nikkou Toshogu Shrine, which means that he walked 50 km on average per day. Nowadays you can reach there from Tokyo within 2 hours by a express train. Nikko is one of the popular sites lying in the outskirts of Tokyo.