Companions for the Journey Series

Mountain Tasting gathers together a wide cross section of haiku with a selection of the diaries of the wandering Japanese poet Santoka (1882—1940). Santoka lived his life in the Zen hermit poetic tradition of Japan that includes Matsuo Basho, Ryokan, and Saigyo Hoshi. The open road was to become both his home and monastery. As he said, “Days I don’t enjoy: Any day I don’t walk, drink sake, and compose haiku.” John Stevens is the author or translator of over twenty books on Buddhism, Zen, Aikido, and Asian culture. His books include Lotus Moon: Poems of Rengetsu and Wild Ways: Poems of Ikkyu.

Summer grasses:
all that remains of great soldiers’
imperial dreams

The bones,
Silently this time,
Returned across the ocean.