Well, I've been having too much fun with Japanese haiku (and Japanese proverbs), which means I've neglected writing here, but hopefully I can get caught up in the coming days. 

So, first off: a book announcement! There is a new volume in the Learn Japanese through Haiku series by Clay and Yumi Boutwell, which are the books that got me started on this whole Japanese learning adventure. The new book features haiku by Basho: Further Journeys with Basho, a follow-up to their first volume of Basho haiku for beginners. That means there are now a total of five books in the series: two with haiku by Basho, plus Issa, Buson, and Shiki.

I've been acquiring these books as Kindles, but you can also get them as part of an ebook bundle which contains all the books in this haiku series and more: Japanese Culture Bundle.

There are 25 haiku in the book, and for each haiku, you get audio (accessed by a QR code), vocabulary and notes for the poem – with a special focus on the kigo or seasonal word – plus a commentary in Japanese (how cool is that?!), with audio and vocabulary for the commentary, along with multiple English translations and a detailed analysis of the poem. And there's art too!

Even if you are not learning Japanese, the books give you the ability to look at the Japanese word for word in order to understand the haiku better and appreciate the choices made by English translators. So, I highly recommend all the books in this series both for students of Japanese and for students of haiku.

With many thanks to Clay and Yumi Boutwell for all their great learning resources at The Japan Shop and Makoto. I am a fan!