Japanese Haiku poet, 1763 to 1827. Born Issa Kobayashi. Published "The Diary at My Father's Death" (1801) and "My Springtime" (1819). Put Kashiwabara (now part of Shinano-machi,
Nagano) on the haiku
map. Issa is said to be
famous for having composed
subjective and individualistic haiku, based on his
family situations, often using the familiar
dialects and
words of his daily
conversations.
Source: Yoshi Hikami. "Issa's Haiku Home Page." 24 October 1997. <http://www.threeweb.ad.jp/logos/ainet/issa.html> 23 August 2000.