Yosa Buson (1716-1784) is the second of the three haiku masters, writing between Basho (1644-1694) and Issa (1763-1827). Widely known during his lifetime - more for his paintings than his poems - Buson’s notoriety and influence declined after his death only to be reestablished by Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902), who immersed himself in Buson’s haiku, seeing Buson’s work as a precursor to his own. Shiki - typically considered the first modernist haiku writer - saw Buson as perhaps the greatest of the former masters, writing that Basho has the “reputation as the incomparable haiku poet,” but Buson is “equal to, or even superior to Basho.”