Awake at Night

Awake at Night - context Summary

Composed in Basho's Fukagawa Hut

Awake at Night is a haiku Basho composed in 1686 while living in his hut (Bashō-an) at Fukagawa. Written on a winter night, it records the concrete incident of a water jar cracking from freezing. Published in the 1689 collection Arano, the poem reflects the poet's austere, solitary conditions rather than an elaborate metaphor. Its brevity preserves the immediate sensory detail and the quiet domestic reality of Bashō's hermit-poet life.