Kobayashi Issa
Japanese writer
- Lived
- 1763–1828
- Country
- Japan
Updated September 2026
About Kobayashi Issa
Kobayashi Issa was a Japanese poet. He is known for his haiku poems and journals. He is better known as simply Issa (一茶), a pen name meaning Cup-of-tea. He is regarded as one of the four haiku masters in Japan, along with Bashō, Buson and Shiki — "the Great Four."
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers. Last updated September 2026.