Yosa Buson (1716-1783) demonstrated such great command in haikai (comic linked verse) and literati painting that he has been ranked with the poet Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) in the former art and with the painter Ike no Taiga (1723-1776) in the later.

   Buson was born in the town of Kemamura in Settsu Province (now in Osaka) near the Yodo River. Around the age of twenty, he went to Edo (now Tokyo) to study haikai. However, with the death of his teacher Hayano Hajin (also known as Yahantei Sōa), Buson, who was twenty-seven at the time, decided to travel around from the northern Kantō region to Tōhoku to Tango (in northern Kyoto Prefecture). Thereafter, he settled and lived in Kyoto, where he produced many outstanding, imaginative comic verses and paintings, until his death at age sixty-eight.

   This exhibition explores Buson as both a master of haikai and painting through approximately 150 works, including materials related to comic linked verses and letters to his pupils, as well as his masterful paintings. Transcend time and space and enjoy the works of this artist who lived freely like a bird.