Portrait of Yosa Buson

Yosa Buson

Poet and painter from Japan

Lived
1716–1784
Country
Japan

Updated September 2026

About Yosa Buson

Yosa (no) Buson was a Japanese poet and painter of the Edo period. He lived from 1716 – January 17, 1784. Along with Matsuo Bashō and Kobayashi Issa, Buson is considered among the greatest poets of the Edo Period. He is also known for completing haiga as a style of art, working with haibun prose, and experimenting with a mixed Chinese-Japanese style of poetry.

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.