Poetry of Chiyo-Ni: The Life and Art of Japan’s Most Celebrated Woman Haiku Master

＂Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi are to be deeply thanked for having given us with such articulate care a poetry major in any language and in any place or time.＂ --Robert Creeley, poet

The Poetry of Chiyo-ni introduces English-language readers to one of Japan’s most luminous literary voices: Chiyo-ni (1703--1775), a poet, painter, and Buddhist nun who broke barriers to become Japan’s most celebrated female haiku master.

Living in an era when haiku was almost exclusively a male art form, Chiyo-ni followed in the footsteps of Basho’s disciples, creating verse of crystalline clarity and subtle sensuality. This elegant new edition, enriched with a new foreword by bestselling author and Zen practitioner Natalie Goldberg, brings this eagerly awaited essential volume back into print.

This richly illustrated collection features:

• Over 100 of Chiyo-ni’s poems, presented in Japanese script, romaji, and lucid English translations
• Seasonal haiku, renku (linked verse), and haibun (travel journals) showcasing her spiritual and artistic insight
• Biographical essays and historical context exploring her extraordinary life and times
• 30 pieces of artwork by Chiyo-ni and other artists
• A glossary of haiku terms for both students and poetry lovers

a hundred gourds
from the heart
of one vine

A finalist for the Haiku Society of America’s Award for Translation, this long-awaited edition is a must-have for lovers of haiku, Japanese literature, and contemplative writing.

Patricia Donegan was a poet and translator. A professor of East-West poetics at Naropa University under Allen Ginsberg, she also studied with Japanese haiku master Seishi Yamaguchi. She received a Fulbright grant for her work on Chiyo-ni. She is the author of Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart and Haiku: Asian Arts for Creative Kids as well as the collections Bone Poems, Without Warning, and Hot Haiku, among others.

Yoshie Ishibashi is a researcher and the co-translator of Chiyo-jo’s Haiku Seasons and The Classic Tradition of Haiku, among other works.

Natalie Goldberg is the author of 16 books, including Writing Down the Bones and, most recently, Writing on Empty (St. MartinÆs Press 2024) and Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku (New World Library 2021) which includes some of Chiyo-ni’s haiku. Natalie lives in northern New Mexico and has practiced zen for many years.