'Without a brush

The willow paints the wind.'

In a few words, haiku goes beneath surface appearance to grasp the heart of an experience. Each word is chosen to unlock a world of memories and associations.

Haiku, like Zen, is an intensely personal experience. Jonathan Clements has selected the best of three centuries of haiku, including the work of classic poets such as Basho, Buson and Chiyo-Ni and rendered into English the elusive spiritual quality of the poems.

Illustrated with carefully selected images from Japanese prints and paintings.