One Hundred Frogs

Perhaps the most famous of all haiku is Basho's poem: "Old pond/Frog jumps in/The sound of water." It is the most frequently translated haiku. Sato has collected some 135 translations, versions, parodies, & inspired recreations of "pond-frog-sound," from the likes of Lafcadio Hearn, Daisetz Suzuki, Donald Keene, Kenneth Rexroth, Edward Seidensticker, Robert Aitken, & Allen Ginsberg, in formats from the 5-7-5 syllables of the original haiku to sonnets, limericks, prose poems, & e.e. cummings-style flights of typographical fancy. Sato's brief introduction provides fascinating background, & inkwash frogs hop across the pages to make the book as fun to look at as it is to read.