With a new cover design, Haiku is an expert introduction and celebration of one of the most beautiful and accessible forms of poetry in the world. Haiku—seventeen-syllable poems that evoke worlds despite their brevity—have captivated Japanese readers since the seventeenth century. Today the form is practiced worldwide and has become established as part of our common global heritage. This beautiful traditionally hand-bound volume presents new English translations of classic poems by the four great masters of Japanese haiku—Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, Kobayashi Issa, and Masaoka Shiki—accompanied by both the original Japanese and a phonetic transcription.